Kenyas biggest telco Safaricom has secured an insurance licence from the Insurance Regulatory Authority IRA, ending a four-year wait. The company will now offer insurance services to its M-Pesa users with a new product, Bima, its CEO Peter Ndegwa said during Thursdays H1 2024 earnings call.
The new product aligns with the telcos strategy to broaden M-Pesa into a financial service provider that responds to its customers digital needs. The company has been testing insurance products since 2020, awaiting regulatory approval.
Innovation remains critical. We have revamped our wealth proposition and have now received an insurance intermediary license from the Insurance Regulatory Authority, Ndegwa said.
This will help us accelerate our rollout of insurance solutions, we expect to rollout propositions in both wealth and savings but also insurance in the second half of this financial year.
Safaricom is keen to tap into the over 30 million active users who transact over 11.6 billion KES1.5 trillion monthly to grow its unit trust, savings, and insurance products and offset a decline in calls and text revenue. With just 3 insurance penetration in Kenya, Safaricom hopes to ride on M-Pesas popularity to get a piece of the insurance market.
