The NCBA Bank Group is set to separate M-Shwari from its banking business. According to NCBA Group chief executive officer John Gachora, NCBA will set up a new subsidiary company that will run M-Shwari independently.
This subsidiary will be headed by a chief executive officer and will also have an independent board of directors.
“What we are now discussing is how we package our business as a fintech so that it can get the right valuation. I understand from what I have seen in some write-ups that people don’t know the details of Fuliza and M-Shwari but we can package it in a way where we can report on all these details,” said Gachora.
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“The vision is to have a separate fintech where we put all these businesses together, get the right valuations, give the right disclosures and therefore get some more shareholder value.”
NCBA launched M-Shwari in 2012 in partnership with leading telecommunications firm Safaricom.
M-Shwari allows customers to save as little as Sh. 1 and access digital loans from Sh. 2,000.
Customers earn interest of up to 6.3 per cent per year on their savings balance if they put the money in a locked savings account that is also under M-Shwari.
Money can be saved on M-Shwari lock savings account for between one to 12 months.
Customers with a good savings and repayment history can tap into as high as Sh. 1 million using the M-Shwari product. Charges on M-Shwari loans are nine per cent, made up of 7.5 per cent fees and 1.5 per cent excise duty.
