NAIROBI, Kenya, June 24 – M- PESA customers can now withdraw money from Diamond Trust Bank ATM’s countrywide following the implementation of a strategic business relationship between DTB, Safaricom and Pesa-Point.
Group CEO of Paynet, Bernard Matthewman said the partnership will see customers get the ability to withdraw their money at standard M-PESA rates as stated by mobile provider.
“It is not a Pesa-Point transaction, it is a DTB transaction. Yes it does utilise the interconnection with M-PESA. So it is a very ‘behind the scenes’ transaction. A customer will not know that this is going through our interface. If you look at the M- PESA transactions on Pesa-Point, we follow the agent fees for ATM’s,” said Mr Matthewman.
The bank is the second financial institution to provide the service after Equity Bank signed a similar deal with the mobile provider.
Head of Money Transfer Services Stella Mulandi said the facility will provide convenience, privacy, security and cash availability to their customers particularly at a time when the bank is expanding its footprint in the East African region.
“DTB’s move to partner with one of the most innovative money transfer services comes in the wake of the bank’s plans to increase its banking footprint within and beyond the East African region,” said Ms Mulandi.
The withdrawals will also be possible in any of the bank’s 29 ATMs countrywide while customers will also be able to buy airtime.
Safaricom’s Head of M-PESA, Pauline Vaughn said the service has become increasingly popular and it currently transacts nearly Sh30 billion per month.
“The figures that we share are those around the amount of money that is being transferred from one customer to another. This figure is currently standing at just over Sh27 billion a month. However we are not publishing the figures that we are moving on behalf of the banks,” Ms Vaughn said.
