First Shariah-compliant mobile loan debuts in Kenya
Safaricom and premier Shari’ah-compliant bank, Gulf African Bank, have partnered to launch Halal Pesa, a Shari’ah-compliant mobile financing product in Kenya.
Halal Pesa customers accessing financing through the service will receive the amount requested in full with a repayment period of 30 days at a 5 percent commodity Murabaha margin.
“Kenya is now a highly innovative, interconnected and fast-paced community that requires solutions on the go. All our digital offerings, including Halal Pesa, seek to directly address this aspect,” said said Abdalla Abdulkhalik, managing director Gulf African Bank.
“Our current strategy is focused on digitization for financial inclusion. Our aim is to provide instantaneous access to interest-free credit through Halal Pesa. We are glad that we could partner with a like-minded partner like Safaricom limited to advance this vision,” he added.
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Halal Pesa will empower M-PESA customers, who have previously been locked out of access to financing due to barriers such as the lack of Shariah modelled mobile facilities.
“We remain keen on partnerships that enable us to provide a wide variety of financial solutions that meet the diversified needs of our customers further broadening financial inclusion to ensure that we leave no one behind. Gulf African Bank is a strategic partner that will enable us to deliver affordable and convenient M-PESA services such as Halal Pesa that are Shariah-compliant in accordance to the Islamic faith,” said Peter Ndegwa, CEO, Safaricom.
All M-PESA customers can access Halal Pesa as a Mini App under the “Grow” option on the M-PESA Super App and by dialling *334# under “Loans and Savings”.
Customers will initially be provided with a personalised facility limit based on their M-PESA usage.
One’s borrowing limit can be increased based on a customer’s usage of Halal Pesa.
