Banks, telcos fight for payments with ‘tap and go’
KCB Bank has partnered with Visa and Thales, a French multinational dealing in technology to allow its customers with Android handsets and Garmin wearables which offer fitness and health tracking products to be able to access all transaction information to help them complete purchases.
Only recently Safaricom also announced plans to shorten the steps it takes for M-PESA customers to pay for goods and services through its till and pay-bill numbers, reviving the telcos ‘Tap and Go’ offering. Central Bank directive halting bank to teller transaction charges saw lenders rush for the merchant space offering paybills to sweep customer payments to bank accounts at no cost.
The Paybills were however long and cumbersome putting lenders at a disadvantage especially with the re-introduction of charges from mobile to bank accounts this year. As Banks and telcos fight for the merchant payment space convenience will be key in this space besides costs as providers battle for market share in payments space.
