In Kenya, the majority of wireless payments are completed through the country’s largest telecoms company, Safaricom, on the M-Pesa platform. Enter a new market competitor because Visa has introduced a mobile-phone application to rival this: the mVisa app. The app is quite simple to use: mVisa users can make payments by scanning a unique merchant Quick Response code, or QR code, using their smart phones.
According to Bloomberg, thus far, some 1,500 merchants have already signed up, with more sure to follow soon. The app currently facilitates transactions for people with accounts in four banks, including KCB Group and Co-operative Bank of Kenya, with more banks looking to come on board by the end of the year.
The mVisa app was first launched in India in 2015, in partnership with seven banks. Thus far, 30,000 merchants have signed up. At the moment, Visa is working to roll out the app in Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda within the next couple of months, and in Nigeria by the end of this year.
