This is really great news! Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB), Kenya’s largest bank in terms of assets has just announced a tender for an internet acquiring gateway via its web site. The tender for the gateway clearly indicates that KCB plans to be one of the first banks in Kenya to start offering e-commece services locally since the ICT bill was signed into law earlier this year. It also means that Kenyan merchants could soon be selling online to Kenyan customers using their local credit cards. The tender can be downloaded from the KCB web site here >
If it actually happens, then KCB will get me as a customer.
The e-commerce perspective has long been overlooked in Kenya though it is potentially the greatest enabler to business in the region and could make payments highly efficient and rapid. It would also reduce fraud and delays associated with payments which are usually done by cheques which in my opinion are now outdated. All financial institutions should migrate to e-payments and the Mpesa model has already shown the potential is there to do well in this sector.
Having looked at the RFP, I think KCB has underestimated the size of the task at hand…they effectively want to host, and sign on portals to use the Gateway, but I can forsee a situation whereby, they will be overwhelmed by the systemic challenges, i.e. fraud, which is on such a scale that they will have to have a fully fledged Web Security team in-house.
I feel KCB should have concentrated on their core business, i.e. banking, and let another comapany(s) connect the Internet Gateway.