Airtel Money customers can now receive money directly in their mobile wallets from any network without a withdrawal code, a major development for mobile money interoperability.
This change, which took effect on February 6, 2024, results from collaborative efforts between the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), industry players, and regulators to deliver seamless mobile money transfers under the CBK National Payments Strategy 2022-2025.
The National Payments Strategy mandates all mobile money providers to ensure smooth transactions across platforms—SIM Menu, USSD Menu, Apps—enabling direct on-network and off-network transfers. This aims to ensure a secure, fast, efficient, and collaborative payment ecosystem that promotes financial inclusion and benefits Kenyans.
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Per the updates, a customer on any network can directly send money to a recipient’s wallet, from as low as Ksh1 up to the daily transaction limit of Ksh250,000, without a withdrawal code.
Customers can simply select “Send Money” to any network and input the recipient’s number to complete the transfer, with funds immediately reflecting in the recipient’s wallet.
“This streamlined process with CBK support brings major benefits through seamless, affordable cross-network transfers, elevating customer experience regardless of channel used. Sending money is the major use case in Kenya, thus direct wallet-to-wallet transfers across networks are invaluable for Kenyans,” said Anne Kinuthia-Otieno, Airtel Money Managing Director.
Ashish Malhotra, Airtel Kenya CEO, added, “This convenience of real-time transactions is a major boost for Kenyans, expanding the mobile money market via easy countrywide transfers and enhancing financial inclusion.”
The cooperation powering interoperability proves that collective efforts by money transfer operators, regulators, and the government can drive comprehensive, customer-focused, and reliable financial services nationwide.
