[kictanet] PRE KIGF ONLINE DISCUSSIONS DAY 4 -FINTECH ECOSYSTEM IN KENYA

Fri Jun 30 16:19:47 EAT 2017

Good afternoon,

Kenyan banks seem to be playing a catch up game to mpesa in the area of mobile banking.

I have been watching with interest their introduction of pesalink. 

·         Banks are actually not charging any transaction costs when you transfer money between accounts in the same bank

·         You can buy more M-AKIBA bonds on pesalink then when you use mpesa.

What is PesaLink?

PesaLink is a money transfer service from a local Kenya Shillings bank account to another local Kenya Shillings bank account in real-time. It is a collaboration between all local banks who are members of the Kenya Bankers Association (KBA) and is managed by Integrated Payment Services Limited (IPSL) which is a subsidiary of KBA. PesaLink is real-time, available 24/7 and you can transfer from as low as KES 10 to as high as KES. 999,999. It is also safe since it eliminates the use of cash as a mode of payment.

https://ipsl.co.ke/pesalink/

Best Regards,

Alex

From: kictanet [mailto:kictanet-bounces+awatila=yahoo.co.uk at lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of Erick Mwangi via kictanet
Sent: Friday, June 30, 2017 12:51 PM
To: awatila at yahoo.co.uk
Cc: Erick Mwangi <erick.mwangi at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [kictanet] PRE KIGF ONLINE DISCUSSIONS DAY 4 -FINTECH ECOSYSTEM IN KENYA

The Uber snakes it away in the Nairobi morning traffic along Mombasa road - half asleep in the back seat, the city seeps through the car in a partially wound down window. The morning air is warm and as always the city is alive and awake.

 Its hard to imagine 15 years ago I travelled this same route to the airport in a Matatu that had twigs on either side which stopped twice to ask for directions. Now the driver knows where I am going, knows the fastest routes and within 10min I have already transacted severally through mpesa and now on a conference call. 

Technology gains can only be best understood through story telling. Fintech is definitely here with us.

1. Is the business environment in Kenya conducive for FinTech business?

Yes Certainly - Disruption as it turns out, is as much a form of social evolution as it is of technological improvements. We are all evolving socially and otherwise.

3. Have banks finally caught on FinTech with their solutions?

I think Banks are catching up on this technology as they continue to understand it better. Its however quite clear banks will lead on this and not the Fintechs as much touted.

4. How will bitcoins & block chain technology affect the market?

When you speak with someone in the Bitcoin community, their is only one thing mentioned - as was during the dot. come era. In every conversation "Bitcoin is here and will change everything". What all those Crypto-pundits fail to remember or read about is at the beginning of the dot.com <http://dot.com>  boom there were Netscape, Yahoo, AOL, Lycos Alsta Vista etc. the outcome yielded different winners: Amazon Google, Salesforce etc. 

Again, as with dot.com <http://dot.com>  there is something the larger public don't understand. While the media mulls over Bitcoin and and gives credence to a slew of people proclaiming a "decentralised network that no one will own" to a naive public and convincing them to dump millions into "ICO", there is something else happening. Consider FAAMG (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Google) do you think its a coincidence they are major deployments for many Blockchain networks?

As with previous games the winners are already taking in massive rewards because they are already hooked into an existing IT and Banking Infrastructure. Currently investments are only flowing into Blockchain infrastructure that must be enterprise grade. Same as the Internet didn't make IT departments irrelevant, Blockchain will not replace IT departments. What will change is the speed and types of skillset needed in it. There will be no immediate shift to everything Blockchain  - there will be long periods of co-existing and integration with existing IT systems. However Blockchain will lead to a strong surge in cloud adoption.

The consequence of Blockchain among consumers will be most felt in Infrastructure were developments relating to Identity, Privacy and Security are taking shape.

I don't think Bitcoin has a future

E Njoroge Mwangi

Technology| FINTECH | Big Data

Cell +44 7539372742

Skype: Erick.mwangi

On Fri, Jun 30, 2017 at 9:01 AM, Francis Monyango via kictanet <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke <mailto:kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> > wrote:

Morning,

Fintech seems to be technical but because we are all involved in it one way or another, we definitely have lessons and opinions on what needs to be done.

1. Is the business environment in Kenya conducive for FinTech business?

My answer would be yes. Yes because our internet penetration levels are really high compared other African states. Keeping in mind how mobile money has also picked up, there is definitely a conducive environment for fintech.

3. Have banks finally caught on FinTech with their solutions?

Banks have not really caught up but they are trying to blend their products with technological solutions. The wake up call seems to be when interest rates were capped.

4. How will bitcoins & block chain technology affect the market?

Crypto currencies such as bitcoin have started being hyped by block chain enthusiasts. However, the moment CBK will recognise it, it's true effect will be seen.

On 30 Jun 2017 08:24, "Rosemary Koech-Kimwatu via kictanet" <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke <mailto:kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> > wrote:

Dear Listers, 

Our discussion topic today is the FinTech Ecosystem. Kenya is the birthplace of some of the most revolutionary FinTech ideas and today we will try to answer the following questions:-

1. Is the business environment in Kenya conducive for FinTech business?

2, What is the experience of companies scaling & deploying FinTech to other countries in the region?

3. Have banks finally caught on FinTech with their solutions?

4. How will bitcoins & block chain technology affect the market?

Looking forward to a great discussion!

-- 

Rosemary Koech-Kimwatu

Advocate -FinTech and ICT Policy

Head of Legal and Regulatory Affairs-Wayawaya

Tel: +254 718 181644 <tel:+254%20718%20181644> 

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