The Kenyan Ministry of Information (MOI), through the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), is newly requiring mobile phone firms to adopt new measures to protect their systems from improper access and to file related security audit reports on an annual basis. The policy, which is consistent with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), is to be made legally effective by the end of August. The PCI DSS is a set of policies and procedures developed jointly by four major international credit card companies in 2004 with the intent to optimize the security of credit, debit, and cash card transactions and to protect cardholders against misuse of their personal information.
Mobile phone firms such as Safaricom, Airtel, Telkom’s Orange and Essar’s Yu will now be required to contract external licensed firms to conduct system audits on their behalf. The companies reportedly will be forced to invest in new software and expertise to comply with the requirements, raising the possibility of increased costs being passed on to consumers.
Mobile money transfer in Kenya dates to 2007 when Safaricom introduced M-Pesa, which now has a customer base of 13.8 million people and a monthly transaction volume equivalent to USD 320 million.
By: Philip Edward Hughes III, Research Assistant
About Central Bank of Kenya:
Established in 1966, the Central Bank of Kenya is the country’s central banking authority. CBK enacted the Microfinance Act in 2008 to pave the way for the licensing of microfinance institutions (MFIs) that take deposits from the public, known as deposit-taking microfinance institutions (DTMs). Professor Njuguna Ndung’u was appointed Governor of Central Bank in March 2007.
Sources and Additional Resources:
[1] Source Article: Mobile Money Africa: “CBK’s Rules Raise Money Transfer Costs in Kenya”, ?http://mobilemoneyafrica.com/?p=3863
[2] Telecom Circle: “M-Pesa: Transforming Millions of Lives”, http://www.telecomcircle.com/2010/01/m-pesa/
MicroCapital Universe Profile: Central Bank of Kenya:
https://www.microcapital.org/microfinanceuniverse/tiki-index.php?page=Central+Bank+of+Kenya+%28CBK%29
MicroCapital.org Brief, April 12, 2011, “Central Bank of Kenya to Allow Deposit Taking Microfinance Institutions (MFIs), Savings and Credit Cooperatives (SACCOs) with Existing Reporting Systems; Small and Micro Enterprise Programme (SMEP) Announces Plans to Transform into Commercial Bank”,
https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-central-bank-of-kenya-to-allow-deposit-taking-microfinance-institutions-mfis-savings-and-credit-cooperatives-saccos-to-report-on-borrowers-small-and-micro-enterprise-programm/
Browse the MicroCapital Universe and add your entry to the wiki at: https://www.microcapital.org/microfinanceuniverse/
Similar Posts:
- MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Mastercard, Vodafone Fiji Partner to Provide Debit Cards to Mobile Money Users
- MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: “Mobile Money, Interoperability and Financial Inclusion;” by Markus K Brunnermeier et al; published by National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
- MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Moniepoint Microfinance Bank Launches Mobile Banking App, Debit Card in Nigeria
- MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Lipa Later Acquires Fellow E-commerce, DFS, Merchant Services Platform Sky.Garden of Kenya for $1.6m
- SPECIAL REPORT: Leveraging Financial Inclusion to Get Food Security Back on the Increase #EMW2023
