Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa.

Safaricom, in collaboration with Kenya Commercial Bank and NCBA Bank Kenya, has revised the interest rates of its consumer overdraft facility, Fuliza for up to 50% less.

The move will see customers accessing the overdraft facility at a free daily maintenance fee for the first three days for transactions of Ksh. 1,000 and below. According to Safaricom, it benefits more than 80% of M-Pesa customers who seek to complete their payment transactions with Fuliza credit.

Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa said when M-Pesa launched in 2007, there were 600,000 loan accounts across various financial institutions.

“Today we have grown to 20 million loan accounts in Kenya due to services designed for the common citizen,” he added.

Fuliza was launched in 2019 as an overdraft facility and short-term loan to enable customers to complete mobile money payments in-case they had insufficient funds.

According to Safaricom’s numbers, the facility has just under seven million users and has disbursed over Kshs 500-billion in the last financial year.

Also, Safaricom and its partners have announced their commitment to support government efforts concerning Kenyans who are negatively listed in Credit Reference Bureaus.

The company stated: “To this end, Safaricom, KCB and NCBA will execute a credit repair mechanism that will see customers who have defaulted on KCB M-Pesa, M-Shwari and Fuliza enlist for a credit repair scheme. This will result in the delisting of over four million digital loan defaulters who are negatively listed on CRBs and restore their ability to access formal, regulated credit.”

Kenya’s President William Ruto said that the financial industry should offer small businesses favorable options in credit to encourage growth.

Ndegwa said that their lending facilities - Fuliza and Mshwari -have benefited micro-and small businesses by giving them an easy and affordable credit.

The new tariffs will take effect on 1 October 2022.