Equity Bank, Kenya’s largest bank in terms of customer base, has announced plans to distribute over 300,000 Near Field Communication (NFC) smartphones free of charge to retailers across the country.

This was announced by the bank’s chief executive, James Mwangi, who has claimed that mobile phones as Point of Sale (PoS) devices have been ranked by customers as a faster, more secure and cheaper payment method, as compared to other cashless transaction mediums.

“Our new MasterCard ATM cards are tap-and-go hence the need to put mobile PoS devices with merchants to process payments,” said Mwangi.

“The NFC-enabled phones and cards will help Equity Bank be well positioned to significantly increase volumes and commission from payment processing.”

Mwangi said that the bank plans to first target restaurants, supermarkets and other retail shops: spaces that tend to have high customer traffic.

This comes just few days after the bank launched high-security chip-and-PIN cards ATM cards in compliance with the country’s central bank requirements.

The bank says it facilitates a monthly sales volumes of over Ksh 1.8 billion under its payments processing service, earning it Ksh 40 million in revenue.

Equity Bank has more than 8 million customers making it the largest bank in terms of customer base in Africa and having nearly half of bank accounts in Kenya.