communication that would shift
people from the bank to the machine.
One of the best communication was
the Double Your Money Campaign
that meant you had a chance to
double the money in your account
if you used the ATM. Within a few
years the ATM culture caught up
and bank customers no longer feared
that getting money from a hole was
witchcraft.
Pre-liberalization Era Instabilities
Before liberalization of the economy
only the blue international banks
were thriving though they had
few customers. Local banks were
suffering; this is mainly because of
the politics of the day. It was said that
local banks feared the heavy handed
politicians who would call for cash at
any time so they had to lie low.
‘‘ We have this hotness index that states that
if there are too many hot girls on the streets
or working as bar hostesses then the economy
has a weakness. I don’t know what to say about
Chase Bank which is now under receivership
but I think there is a relationship between hot
women and money. They have this “reducing
balance effect” if a man is not careful.’’
million customers.
Equity customers were feeling at
home to an extent that the bank
came up wi th the member campaign,
which had the tagline Karibu
Member. In a research for the
campaign customers stated that they
felt like it’s a members club. There
is something I like stating about
Kibaki-nomics and Mass Marketing bottom of the pyramid and love for
by Equity
big brands, when targeted by big
brands they feel dignified and pay
After liberalization we saw
the brands with loyalty.
Kibaki’s government put money in
people’s pockets. We saw Equity
M-Pesa and agency Banking were
hitting the market with a bang;
Game Changers
I remember telling my clients
that Equity was doing something
When M-Pesa was launched banks
right especially for SMEs. The
formed a committee to fight it.
bank managers would look at each After the chicken went to roost
other with knowing eyes and say
the old adage, if you can’t fight
something like: give them time
them join them applied. Banks now
they will fall soon.
have very strong partnerships with
Safaricom. The banks have also
Within no time equity Bank had
developed their own mobile switch.
become a sensation especially with CBA are the custodian banks for
bottom of the pyramid with over
M-Shwari a mobile saving and
a million customers. Customers
loans product in partnership with
who had been sent away by the blue Safaricom. There is also M-Pesa
banks were having a great banking account available at KCB.
time at Equity and they thrived
too.
The introduction of agency banking,
seen in few other countries, and
Equity was so successful that one
successful in even fewer, was the
bank executive from overseas had
solution. Agency banking was first
to make a call to the local operation developed in Brazil when Branco
to understand why their customer
Bradesco and Correios created
numbers were so low and targets
Banco Postal in 2001, allowing
were unambitious yet Equity had a postal centers to become financial
56 MAL 17/17 ISSUE
service providers.
Kenya followed not too long after,
in 2005, with an experimental
project by Faulu Kenya that allowed
peer-to-peer mobile transfer. Two
years later, we saw the introduction
of M-Pesa. Mobile money set the
banking sector ablaze, but it still
took years for these institutions to
draw level.
Only in 2010 did the Central
Bank, together with stakeholders,
introduce a business model meant
to increase financial inclusion to
the majority of Kenyans who had
limited access to microfinance
institutions and banking branches at
a reduced cost. This was named the,
“Agent Banking Model”. The agent
banking model provided fiduciary
services for consumers that include;
payments, transfers, and e-commerce
activity such as mobile banking.
The inclusion of third-party retail
outlets brings with it a whole
host of complications: less cash
control, complex management
systems. Banking agents are the
new customer care and the quality
of service varies. Commercial banks
have had to learn to mitigate the
potential set of problems associated
with the involvement of agents and a
new banking model, and benchmark.
It would be easy to take a look at
agency banking and think that this