Kenya’s leading telco Safaricom, and its partner banks announced cuts on daily charges for loans below Sh1000 from Fuliza, a short-term digital loan product on Wednesday.
The move, widely seen as political, comes ahead of a planned presidential review of Kenya’s credit scoring system.
Fuliza is an overdraft mobile money overdraft product jointly operated by Safaricom and two of Kenya’s largest banks, NCBA and Kenya Commercial Bank Limited.
The recently announced tariff discount, which takes effect from the 1st of October, means Fuliza customers who borrow between Sh500 and Sh1000 will pay a daily interest charge of Sh6 (5 cents) down from Sh10.
Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa, says this establishes Fuliza as the most accessible and affordable credit facility at only 1% of the value, especially when customers pay within a relatively short period of time.