{"id":6561,"date":"2026-10-05T14:04:25","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T14:04:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/livenation254.com\/?p=6561"},"modified":"2026-10-05T14:04:25","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T14:04:25","slug":"6561","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/livenation254.com\/?p=6561","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"
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KCB Warns Kenyans: Every Shilling Spent on Transaction Fees Matters as Digital Payments Surge<\/strong><\/h1>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Epaper Online | Business & Economy<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Jeff Kizzilah Digital Editor\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/pre>\n
For many Kenyan households, financial pressure does not end when a purchase is made. The cost and convenience of moving money from one place to another can determine how much of a hard-earned shilling remains available for other essential needs.<\/p>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n
According to Angela Mwirigi, KCB Director of Digital Financial Services<\/strong>, consumers need to become more deliberate about how they make everyday payments as Kenya continues to deepen its digital economy.<\/p>\n
Data from the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK)<\/strong> shows that registered mobile-money accounts reached 95.31 million in August 2026<\/strong>, up from 82.43 million in December 2024. The number of active mobile-money agents stood at 563,605, while monthly agent cash-in and cash-out transactions were valued at Sh761.13 billion<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
However, rising digital-money usage does not necessarily mean payments have become frictionless or cost-free.<\/p>\n
The CBK\u2019s 2025 Bank Supervision Annual Report indicates that monthly mobile-money transaction volumes declined from 309.28 million in 2024 to 217.58 million in 2025<\/strong>, while the value of transactions fell from Sh753.45 billion to Sh722.53 billion<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
The figures point to a changing payments environment in which consumers continue to transact digitally while household budgets remain under pressure. The International Monetary Fund has similarly highlighted a divergence between the number and value of mobile-money transactions, suggesting a shift towards lower-value payments amid higher living costs and slower household spending.<\/p>\n
For consumers, transaction costs can accumulate when money passes through multiple channels. It is against this backdrop that KCB\u2019s Common Cents campaign<\/strong> is placing greater emphasis on how consumers manage everyday money\u2014not simply how much they earn.<\/p>\n
Mwirigi says the focus is increasingly on expanding the channels through which customers can access financial services while making payments more efficiently.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery single cent I make is mine. How is this cent also working?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The KCB approach seeks to bring everyday financial services closer together through its mobile banking platform, enabling customers to pay school fees, bills and other services directly from their accounts rather than unnecessarily transferring money between wallets and bank accounts.<\/p>\n
According to Mwirigi, the bigger question is not simply whether a payment can be made digitally, but how efficiently it can be made<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
Smarter payment choices can help consumers save time, reduce unnecessary transaction costs, improve visibility over their spending and retain greater control over their finances.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe future of digital finance, therefore, may not simply be about making payments faster. It is about making every payment count,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
The CBK has also taken steps to address transaction costs. The regulator has revised maximum charges for bank-to-wallet transactions, with applicable charges varying depending on the transaction value, bank and payment service provider.<\/p>\n
The regulator has previously noted that limited interoperability can force businesses and consumers to use multiple channels, while additional steps across different payment providers can increase the overall cost of transactions.<\/p>\n
Under the National Financial Inclusion Strategy 2025\u20132028<\/strong>, lowering transaction costs and expanding financial-service use cases have been identified as key priorities.<\/p>\n
The strategy notes that person-to-merchant payments have grown significantly and account for about 30 per cent of transaction volumes<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
CBK has also proposed measures including peer-to-peer fee caps as part of efforts to lower transaction costs. Despite about 83 per cent of adults having a financial account<\/strong>, millions of Kenyans continue to rely on cash, particularly in rural areas where transaction costs can be significantly higher.<\/p>\n
The emerging message for consumers is clear: as digital payments become increasingly embedded in everyday life, the way Kenyans move their money can be just as important as how much they earn<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KCB Warns Kenyans: Every Shilling Spent on Transaction Fees Matters as Digital Payments Surge Epaper Online | Business & Economy By Jeff Kizzilah Digital Editor\u00a0… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6562,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-corporate-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/livenation254.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/livenation254.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/livenation254.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livenation254.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livenation254.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6561"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/livenation254.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6561\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6563,"href":"https:\/\/livenation254.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6561\/revisions\/6563"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livenation254.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/livenation254.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livenation254.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livenation254.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}