Safaricom Partners With NSSF In New Cashless Payment Mode
Safaricom’s MPesa has partnered witn National Social Security Fund (NSSF) in cashless drive campaign as it embarks on a push to fully adopt cashless payments.
“The Fund seeks to increase the convenience and efficiency of its services through the automation and digitisation exercise,” said retired General Dr Julius Karangi.
Under the new system, NSSF members can now make all payments to the organisation including pension contributions through the Mpesa PayBill 333300.
This is in addition to the NSSF self-service portal through which members can track their contributions and also through which new members can register.
“You no longer have the excuse that you first need to find some time to come to NSSF. They have come to you, and the branch is now in your phone. You no longer have an excuse to not plan for your retirement as we now all have access to the information and the tools,” said Rita Okuthe, Safaricom Director, Enterprise Business.
Mobile payments have emerged as the most popular mode of cashless payments with data from the Central Bank showing almost nine of every ten cashless payments in the country were on the mobile phone as of December 2018.
“More of our enterprise customers are adopting digitisation as they increasingly focus on their customers’ needs, by cutting down on time spent handling and reconciling cash payments. I would like to commend the NSSF for becoming a trendsetter in empowering their customers with both the knowledge and tools to manage their pensions,” added Ms Okuthe.
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A September 2017 GSMA report similarly backs the convenience of Mpesa as a payment channel. This report found that citizens benefited from paying for government services through Mpesa as it can reduce costs by more than 75%
“We also appreciate that NSSF has chosen to partner with us on this journey. The mobile phone has proven to be the king of convenience when it comes to cashless payments,” she added.
Okuthe said that the new development will be instrumental to informal sector, where workers’ remissions are not sent to NSSF by the employer.
“This means that eight of every ten employed Kenyans work in the informal sector, which tends to be characterised by small business which may lack the systems and structures of the formal sector. Of the more than 16 million jobs in the country, more than 14 million are in the informal sector,” said Ms Okuthe.
“At the same time, there remains a need to provide such employees with an equivalent level of public services to those offered to people in the formal sector. Just over a decade ago, this would have been an almost impossible feat to achieve. But today, technology has empowered more than 30 million Kenyans with access to the mobile phone.”
The new development will enable customers keep track of their contributions and even make a contribution to their retirement.