Every second, Safaricom processes six transactions or 492,480 overdraft requests per day to bail out borrowers.
Safaricom now processes about six loan applications on its Fuliza loan product per second, making it a major cash cow for the region’s most profitable company.
In the 2020 financial year, Safaricom disbursed loans amounting to Sh245 billion through Fuliza. This is a growth of more than 10 times over the same period in the previous year, when Kenyans borrowed Sh29 billion, according to the company’s latest sustainability business report.
Kenyans have in the recent past resorted to the overdraft facility to make ends meet in the wake of the Covid-19. Overall, transactions stood at 392 million, up from 46 million in the previous financial year, with the number of customers registered on Fuliza now standing at 20 million, up from 10.7 million in 2019.
Safaricom launched Fuliza last year as an overdraft facility that allows consumers to complete M-Pesa transactions even with insufficient funds in their mobile wallets.
Source: The Standard