After a four-year journey, Safaricom, Kenya’s largest telecommunications provider, has secured an insurance license from Kenya’s Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA). This approval marks a major step forward for the company’s financial services ambitions, allowing it to launch a new insurance product, Bima, exclusively for M-Pesa users. The announcement was made by Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa during the company’s H1 2024 earnings call on Thursday.
This new offering aligns with Safaricom’s vision to expand M-Pesa into a comprehensive financial service platform that meets evolving digital needs. Having tested insurance products since 2020 while awaiting regulatory clearance, the telco is now poised to introduce Bima and strengthen M-Pesa’s portfolio in wealth management and insurance solutions.
“Innovation remains critical. We have revamped our wealth proposition and have now received an insurance intermediary license from the Insurance Regulatory Authority,” Ndegwa stated. “This will help us accelerate our rollout of insurance solutions. We expect to launch propositions in both wealth and savings, as well as insurance, in the latter half of this financial year.”
With an estimated 30 million active users and monthly transactions surpassing $11.6 billion (KES1.5 trillion), M-Pesa’s extensive user base presents a strong foundation for Safaricom to expand its footprint in Kenya’s insurance sector, where the penetration rate remains low at around 3%. Safaricom hopes that Bima will attract more M-Pesa users to insurance, helping counterbalance the decline in revenue from traditional calls and texts.
Safaricom’s broader strategy to integrate financial services, including wealth management and insurance, has not been without challenges. The company faces regulatory pressure from the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), which has urged Safaricom to separate M-Pesa from its telecom operations.
In addition to insurance, M-Pesa’s offerings include the unit trust product Mali, savings accounts through partnerships with KCB Group and NCBA, and an overdraft service, providing users with a growing suite of financial solutions. For H1 2024, M-Pesa contributed 43% to Safaricom’s service revenue, generating $560 million (KES77.2 billion) — a 16.6% year-over-year increase.
Safaricom’s dominance in the mobile money market is unparalleled, controlling 93.4% of Kenya’s market share, leaving Airtel Money with just 6.6%, according to the Communications Authority of Kenya.
