Safaricom Fuliza: The amount of loans that Kenyans are borrowing on Fuliza everyday has risen to Sh. 1.2 billion. This borrowing rate was recorded in the six months to June 2021 as the amount borrowed on Fuliza hit Sh. 220.38 billion. This marked a 25 per cent increase from the amount that was borrowed in the same period last year.
In the six months to June 2020, Kenyans borrowed up to Sh. 1 billion on Safaricom’s Fuliza overdraft. This saw Fuliza loan rise from Sh. 81 billion to over Sh. 176 billion. Through Fuliza, NCBA Bank gave out loans worth Sh. 132 billion while KCB gave out loans worth Sh. 44 billion. The revenue share split between Safaricom, NCBA and KCB Group set at 40 per cent, 40 per cent and 20 per cent respectively.
Safaricom Fuliza loans product was launched in January 2019. Within the first six months after launching, Kenyans borrowed Sh. 81 billion. “We launched the Fuliza after realizing that customers were canceling millions of M-Pesa transactions every day due to insufficient funds in their mobile wallets,” said Safaricom.
Like its other mobile lending products like M-Shwari and KCB M-Pesa, Fuliza is run using algorithms from M-Pesa’s transactional data to determine loan limits for users. Analysts have in the past said Fuliza could in the medium to long-term present competition to traditional payment methods like credit and debit cards.
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Fuliza could be among the genius moves that the company has made in the recent past as it seeks to increase revenue streams. This has reignited the debate on whether Safaricom should also be subjected to financial sector regulations.