Airtel Money Leans on Microfinance Banks to Deepen Market Presence

Airtel Kenya is expanding its mobile money reach by partnering with multiple financial institutions. The company announced that Rafiki Microfinance Bank, Access Bank Plc, Bank Of Africa (BOA), and Kenya Women Microfinance Bank branches now accept cash deposits and withdrawals.

Agents, agents, agents! Airtel promoted its strategic focus on creating an extensive agent network by saying, “Deposit or withdraw money from Airtel Money at any Rafiki Bank, Access Bank, Bank of Africa, or KWFT near you.”

This follows an earlier deal with Naivas, which allowed the retailer’s nationwide stores to act as Airtel Money agents, reflecting an aggressive push to expand the platform’s footprint amid fierce mobile money competition in Kenya.

With over 229 branches, KWFT has the most among these new partners, followed by Bank of Africa (30), Access Bank (23) and Rafiki (19).

Beyond infrastructure expansion, Airtel Kenya has launched a withdrawal promotion campaign called “Rudishiwa Transaction Fee,” which reimburses customers with airtime for transaction costs.

This incentive follows Airtel’s policy of free in-network transfers, with fees only applied to transactions to rival platforms like Safaricom’s M-Pesa.

Airtel also benefited from the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) raising daily mobile money transaction limits from Ksh300,000 to Ksh500,000, allowing operators to improve their offerings.

These initiatives cap a wave of policy
reforms for Airtel Money, which last year allowed customers to keep funds in their mobile wallets without forced withdrawals after a week.