NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 7-NCBA has overhauled its M-Shwari service with a major upgrade of its core platform.
In a successful platform switch over that took place between November 20th-22nd 2020, the bank migrated from their legacy T24 platform that has served them for the last 8 years.
The bank partnered with leading Chinese bank software firm, MuRong Technology and Huawei to create a world class hardware and software infrastructure. Above this platform, a distributed digital core banking system was built by adopting MicroService software architecture.
The new platform is expected to significantly improve resilience and reliability of the service, providing a better experience to customers.
It will also provide capability to take M-Shwari and Fuliza beyond its current offerings to address more underserved segments.
This platform will also provide a data architecture to cost effectively enable compliance to data residency requirements for roll out to the 4 other markets where NCBA provides mobile savings and loans services and for future business expansion.
NCBA Group Managing Director, John Gachora said the investment in the new platform was part of the bank’s strategy to deliver new and innovative ways to optimize customer experience while allowing for business growth.
“The upgrade of the M-Shwari core platform is a significant milestone for us, being the first to market with this technology, as we continue to position ourselves as a pioneer in digital financial services in the industry, ,” said Gachora.
He added, “With this new platform, we have enhanced the bank’s agility and ability to further enhance the product offering, increase value for the customer and its overall competitiveness in the region”
Having pioneered mobile savings and loan services with M-Shwari in 2012, NCBA and Safaricom have enabled millions of Kenyans to access reliable financial services to help them transform their lives for the better.
In 2020, in a show of solidarity with their customers they provided measures to manage the socio-economic impact of Covid-19 in Kenya.
During this period they suspended CRB listing for customers in default and disbursed over 300billion in loans to Kenyans that needed to bridge their finances.
“Our continued investment in the M-Shwari platform will further deepen access to credit, enabling our more than 26.8 million M-PESA customers take advantage of more opportunities. In addition, this new platform will benefit our customers through increased stability and reliability,” said Peter Ndegwa, CEO, Safaricom.
M-Shwari has empowered millions of micro small and medium enterprises to grow their businesses with much-needed access to credit.
With the introduction of the Lock savings accounts in 2015, Kenyans from all walks of life have been given access to a target savings account that has enabled them to save towards their goals at competitive returns.
In 2019, NCBA partnered with Safaricom again to introduce Fuliza, a service that allows Kenyans to complete their M-PESA transactions when they have insufficient funds in their M-PESA wallets.
Over 21 Million people have registered on to the service with over Sh1billion in daily disbursements.
