1. Co-operative BankCo-operative Bank
Co-op Bank Launches Mobile
Wallet Service: MCo-op Cash
>>ISSUE 1, August 2014
<<
In line with Co-operative Bank’s vision and mission
of providing real value to our customers, the Bank
on 13th August 2014 launched an advanced mobile
wallet, ‘MCo-opCash’, that enables both customers
and non-customers across all mobile phone networks
to open bank accounts, apply for loans straight
from their mobile phones and also make cash and
utility payments. Upon registration, the customer
telephone number becomes the customer bank
account number, and transactions can commence
immediately. MCo-opCash also enables users to
transfer funds across banks, micro finance institutions
and mobile phone networks, and thereby deliver a
greatly-improved service experience to users.
The mobile wallet will foster financial inclusion by
facilitating opening of accounts on the mobile phone
through self-registration, provide customers with
a one-stop solution for their mobile banking needs
that is available 24/7, enhance the bank’s efficiency
and ensure the bank remains competitive, and be a
significant boost to the bank’s performance on non-
funded income which delivered a remarkable 37.8%
growth in the first half of 2014.
This innovation will ride on the Bank’s 4.6 million
direct customers and the over 10 million Kenyans
in the Co-operative Movement that is the largest in
Africa. SACCO members whose SACCOs bank with
>>Continued on page 3
AwardsBest Innovation in
Retail Banking 2014
>>Page 6
Co-op Collection
& receipting
Making Public Transport Manageable
>>Page 8
FREE
COPY
CEOs Message
>>Page 2
Pictorial
>>Page 4
Co-op Awarded
>>Page 6
Co-op Foundation
>>Page 7
2. >> ISSUE 1, August 2014 >>>> ISSUE 1, August 2014
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CEO’s Desk Cover story Cont.
Message from the CEO
Dear Valued Customer
In line with Co-operative Bank’s vision and mission centred around providing
real value to our customers we are excited to announce the launch of a new
enhanced mobile banking wallet that will revolutionise the banking experience
for our customers by providing 24/7 convenience, real time, ‘touch of a button’
service through direct and enhanced integrations, robust 3600 product offering
covering your transactional banking needs, saving and borrowing needs as well
as investment and lifestyle needs.
With Co-operative Bank being host to 4 million account holders as well as
housing an additional 5 million Sacco members through their Co-operative
Societies, the launch of the platform evidently works in tandem with the banking
industry’s aggressive strategy to enhance efficiency by going electronic. The
ease of registration both electronically and at our various Branches, ATMs and
Agents country wide is centred around fostering enhanced financial inclusion
for the unbanked for which the Bank has always been a driver through its citizen
friendly banking model. The platform will be released for pilot runs in March
2014 and be fully operational by end of April 2014.
What is unique to M-Co-op Cash?
The Coop mWallet is predisposed on strengthening our partnerships with the
various stakeholders in the industry and is the first bank led mobile money service
that is open for subscription not only to anyone with a mobile phone, irregardless
of mobile network namely Safaricom, Airtel, Yu & Orange subscribers but also
to other non-Telco wallets such as Tangaza and Mobikash. Each individual’s
wallet account will be their mobile number irrespective of Telco provider thereby
ensuring ease of transaction and allowing for inclusion of all players.
Features of the new platform include:
• 5 credit products accessible to all M-Co-op Cash subscribers irrespective of
the Telco they are subscribed to.
• Self-registration for the service via the mobile phone.
• Deposit and withdrawal to and from the Wallet Account.
• Supports savings of upto Kes 200,000 on the Wallet account.
• Cardless withdrawal through our ATMs and Coop Kwa Jirani Agents.
• Registered customer access to the full list of utility payments offered by the
Bank irrespective of the Telco they are subscribed to.
• M-Co-op Cash customers can link their Co-operative Bank Account(s) to their
M-Co-op Cash Account.
• Airtime purchase can be done from all the 4 Telco’s for individual’s phone as
well as to another individual’s phone.
• M-Co-op Cash customers will be able to do EFTs to any commercial bank that
is a member of the clearing house.
• M-Co-op Cash will allow bulk funds transfer to any mobile number(s)
irrespective of whether it’s registered for the Coop mWallet or not.
• M-Co-op Cash will offer mobile money services to Sacco accounts
for Sacco members.
• Access of service at Coop Agent points and ATMs.
• Devolvement of the mWallet to other organizations e.g.Saccos,
Micro credit organizations.
• Merchant payments.
What does this mean to you?
The underlying major benefit introduced by the M-Co-op Cash is the convergence
of all mobile money services, banking services, Sacco financial services, utility
payment services and person to person funds transfer services all offered on a
single account accessed through your mobile phone.
We know you will have many questions regarding this product and have
proactively posted a Customer QA on our website http://www.co-opbank.co.ke
that provides answers to the important questions we anticipate you will have
after hearing the great news. You can also email any other specific queries you
have to mbanking@co-opbank.co.ke.
We look forward to confidently walking with you into this new future of
technological banking.
Dr. Gideon Muruiki- MBS
Group Managing Director CEO
Continued from page 1
Co-operative Bank will have access to the full range
of services through MCo-op Cash.
The underlying major benefit ofMCo-op Cash is the
convergence of mobile money services, banking
services, Sacco financial services, utility payment
services and person to person funds transfer services
all offered on a single account accessed through the
mobile phone.
The main features of MCo-op Cash include:
• Free self-registration for the service via mobile
phone, anywhere anytime.
• Variety of credit products accessible to all M Co-op
Cash subscribers irrespective of the mobile phone
network they subscribe to.
• Unlimited savings / deposits, unlike some mobile
money services in the market that limit the
amount of cash that a subscriber can hold at any
one given time
• Card-lesswithdrawalatanyCo-opKwaJiraniagent,
and soon at any Co-op Bank ATM countrywide
• Funds transfer to any mobile phone number
irrespective of the mobile phone network and
whether it is registered on MCo-op cash or not,
including Bulk transfers.
• Access to an extensive listof utility payments
offered by the Bank including: KPLC, Nairobi
Water, KRA, Insurance.
• Linkage of a subscriber’s Co-operative Bank
Account(s), enabling the customer to check balance
and transact directly from the bank account or
transfer cash to MCo-op Cash free of charge.
• Airtime purchase for the subscriber’s own mobile
phone as well as for another individual’s phone,
regardless of their mobile phone network.
• Electronic Funds Transfer to any commercial bank
that is a member of the clearing house.
For more information contact our call center on Tel:
0703 027 000, 020 277 6000, SMS: 16111, and
email: customerservice@co-opbank.co.ke
3. ISSUE 1, August 2014 ISSUE 1, August 2014
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The first Lady Her Excellency Mrs. Margaret Kenyatta receives the key to a mobile
clinic that Co-operative Bank of Kenya donated to the Narok County through the
Beyond Zero anti-child mortality campaign. Director Corporate and Institution
Banking, Mrs. Lydia Rono, presented the mobile clinic on behalf of the bank. The fully
equipped Ksh. 10 milliion mobile clinic will be used by the Narok County government
to help deliver medical services to mothers and children all over the Narok County.
Metropolitan Teachers’ Sacco Society in conjunction with Co-op Bank launched two new products, a Sacco
Personal Cheque and a co-branded Sacco Link Card at the Sacco’s AGM. Showcasing the Sacco Personal Cheque
is Co-op Bank Director - Co-operatives Division, Mr. Titus Karanja (right), KUSCCO MD, Mr. George Ototo (second
right), the AGM Chief Guest, Cyrus Kariamwere (center) of the Bank’s Sacco Banking Division, Mr. Christopher
Karanja (second left), the Sacco Chairman and Mr. Francis Nganga (left), the Sacco CEO. Co-op Bank is a proud
supporter of this and many other Saccos; working with them to enhance efficiency and profitability through the
provision of affordable capacity-building solutions.
Co-op Bank Director - Corporate Institutional Banking, Mrs
Lydia Rono presents the new Meru County revenue collection system
manual to H.E Peter Munya, Governor Meru County. With the new
system the county will be able to to track down revenue collected on a
real-time basis and at the same time minimize fraud.
Co-operative Bank’s Director of Retail Banking, Sam Birech
(right) presents a Ksh. 1 million cheque to the Inspector
General of Police, David Kimaiyo(left) in support of the Kenya
Police Annual Athletics Championships 2014. Co-op Bank was
the lead sponsor of the Annual Athletics which seek to nurture
and showcase talent in the Police service. This is the fourth year
running that the Bank is supporting the championship.
MDLC FEBRUARY WINNERS
The February 2014 winners of the Bank’s deposit mobilization campaign display their certificates following the presentation by
Dr. Gideon Muriuki, Group Managing Director.
MDLC JANUARY WINNERS
The January 2014 winners of the Bank’s deposit mobilization campaign display their certificates following the
presentation by Mr. Zachariah Chianda, Director Operations Division. The Deposit mobilization and growth of non
funded incomes remains a key pillar for the bank’s profitability.
Co-op Mortgage
According to Rose Hudgins in their book: Bank
Management and Financial Services, the authors
allude to the fact that Linguistics and Etymology
tell us that the French word banque and the Italian
Banca were used long ago to refer to a bench or
money changers table. This describes quite well what
historians have observed about the first bankers
over 2000 years ago. They were money changers,
situated usually at a table in the commercial district,
aiding travelers by exchanging foreign coins for local
money or replacing commercial notes for cash for
free. Loans in those days where mainly offered to
ship owners and landowners with most banks being
of Greek origin.
Banking later developed into a sophisticated
undertaking targeting clients with a steady income
and significant deposits. This model excluded
significant numbers in the population below the
liquidity threshold desired by financial institutions.
The focus mainly shifted to corporate clients. Recent
times have seen the retail market come under
the banks radar as the growth driver to financial
institutions and targeting these numbers using
mobile telephony platforms has emerged as the
savior to many a bank.
According to Wikipedia, the definition of Mobile
banking is; a system that allows customers of a
financial institution to conduct a number of financial
transactionsthroughamobiledevicesuchasamobile
phone or personal digital assistant. The earliest
mobile banking services were offered over SMS, a
service known as SMS banking. With the introduction
of smart phones with WAP support enabling the use
of the mobile web in 1999, the first European banks
started to offer mobile banking on this platform to
their customers. Closer home Safaricom currently
has 75 per cent of the adult population on M-Pesa
services, conducting transactions worth more than
Sh2 billion daily.
Central Bank of Kenya data further shows that
transactions valued at Sh1.9 trillion were made
through mobile money in 2013. In December alone,
25 million people carried out a transaction using
mobile money. The success of the mobile banking
service can mainly be attributed to a number of
factors: The high cost of rolling out physical branches
covering entire geographies, sparsely populated
regions of the country and a less than optimum
transport and communication infrastructure that
characterizes the Kenyan landscape.
The mobile phone in this case successfully to a large
extent, surmounts these challenges through Over the
Air (OTA) accessibility that has made reaching people
via this method an attractive business model.
Moving forward, the aggressive efforts by financial
institutions will serve to hasten financial access to
the masses thus taking financial services from the
people, away from them to the corporates and back
to the people. One may therefore conclude that
Mobile Banking in Kenya
today and the Future - Has
banking come full circle?
Article by: Stephen Kirui, Brand Manager, Marketing Co-op Bank
Pictorial
As your bank, we are making all efforts to
prevent ATM fraud. Here are 4 tips that can
help you to ensure your PIN is safe:
1. When entering your PIN at the ATM
always cover the numbers with your
hand.
2. Avoid writing your PIN on your
phone or keeping it in your wallet,
you never know when they can be
stolen, always memorize your PIN.
3. Do not give out your PIN, card
number or account number to
anyone.
4. Only enter your PIN when prompted
to do so by the ATM.
It is in our interest to ensure that your hard
eared money is safe so therefore should
you see anything suspicious at the ATM
please contact any of our Alert Hot lines
below.
4 Tips to protect your PIN
020 277 6000, 0703 027 000 or
0736 690 101 or SMS 16111.
Email us at
customerservice@co-opbank.co.ke
4. ISSUE 1, August 2014 ISSUE 1, August 2014
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Co-op Awarded
Co-operative Bank of Kenya received top awards in
two categories: Innovation in Retail Banking and
Best CEO Africa at the International Banker magazine
annual awards which recognizes the top banking
institutions across the Middle East and Africa.
The International Banker magazine offers a global
view of banking and brings in-depth analysis on
the people and innovations within financial services
that drive the industry forward. Its annual awards
recognize banking excellence globally. Honoured
with a dual award, to acknowledge and celebrate
innovation and leadership, the Co-operative Bank of
Kenya topped the awards lists this year.
The first, and most prestigious, award was Banking
CEO of the Year, Africa, awarded to Dr. Gideon
Muriuki (Co-operative Bank of Kenya). As the
head of the bank, Dr. Muriuki receives recognition
for promoting the co-operative banking model
throughout Kenya and his leadership in driving a
sustainable growth model. In particular, Dr. Gideon
Muriuki has demonstrated remarkable foresight
by insisting that the Co-operative Bank of Kenya
retain its identity as a co-operative bank even when
expanding into additional parts of Africa outside
Kenya, in spite of the fact that it would have been
easier for the enterprise to proceed as a successful
Kenyan commercial bank. Expanding to other African
markets, beginning with South Sudan, by way of
joint ventures with co-operative societies in those
countries is a futuristic business model that is likely
to deliver inclusive growth and a more equitable
sharing of the benefits of the rising prosperity of
African economies.
Dr. Muriuki has since turned around the bank from
loss-making to one of East Africa’s fastest-growing
and most profitable banks. The bank has achieved
consistent year-on-year growth in results, substantial
growth in customer base and expansion of services
into Sudan – a lucrative growth area for the Kenyan
banking sector. He has furthermore set up numerous
bank led initiatives to benefit the community.
The second award was made for Innovation in
Retail Banking, Kenya. The Co-operative Bank of
Kenya has driven the adoption of banking services
amid a growing economy. International Banker was
particularly impressed by the bank’s commitment to
providing scholarships for underprivileged students,
green energy financing packages and low-interest
loans for small and medium-sized enterprises,
which may prove crucial in terms of Kenya’s future
economic growth.
The Co-operative Bank of Kenya has demonstrated
a consistent commitment to providing inclusive
retail banking services in Kenya. Under Dr. Muriuki’s
leadership, the bank has successfully pioneered a
retail banking model that goes beyond investment
in conventional bank-owned channels such as
branches, ATMs, agencies and electronic banking.
The bank has invested substantially in over-the-
counter banking services and payment card systems
operated by co-operatives to serve their members,
which currently number over two million. The bank’s
support by way of affordable financing, capacity-
building and critical technical support has enabled
over four hundred co-operatives to offer front-
office banking (FOSAs) to over two million banking
customers. In addition, the bank’s huge investment
in a payments switch (Coopswitch) that has enabled
Kenya’s vibrant Savings and Credit Co-operatives
(Saccos) to access card payment services worldwide,
is a ground-breaking innovation towards achieving
financial access to the majority.
A spokesperson for International Banker explained,
“The Co-operative Bank of Kenya is one of Kenya’s
fastest-growing banks and has risen to become one
the country’s biggest five banks. Having been in
business for over forty years, it has seen its highs and
lows but has overcome these by continually evolving
its approaches, which can be especially difficult for co-
operatives who typically struggle to drive innovation
and internal reform.”
When asked to comment, Dr. Muriuki noted, “The
over 10 million-member co-operative movement
that holds a 65% majority stake in the bank, is the
face of Kenyan people, and with continued teamwork
and innovation, the bank will play a pivotal role in
the growth of the regional economy.”
Co-operative Bank of Kenya Tops
International Banker Awards 2014
The Co-operative Bank of Kenya has been awarded
the ‘BEST INNOVATION IN RETAIL BANKING 2014’
and the Group MD, Dr. Gideon Muriuki, ‘CEO OF THE
YEAR AFRICA 2014’ by the International Banker.
We accept this global recognition with great humility
and are encouraged to continue providing our
customers with transformative banking solutions. The
over 10 million member Co-operative movement is
the face of our dear Nation. Indeed, “We are you”.
Co-op Foundation
Co-operative Bank increases education
scholarships to almost 2,800 students
The 2014 Co-op Foundation interns pose with Co-operative Bank MD CEO, Dr. Gideon Muriuki during the foundation’s university and vocational internship
program induction. The Foundation is Co-operative Bank’s vehicle for social responsibility, whose current flagship project is the education scholarship scheme
for bright but less endowed children. Also present is Mrs. Rosemary Githaiga, the Bank’s Company Secretary, Mrs. Weda Welton, HR Director, Mary Anne
Njoroge from Marketing PR, Stephen Gichuki and Ann Muigai from the Co-op Foundation.
The Co-operative Bank of Kenya has increased
its secondary school scholarships for bright but
financially disadvantaged children from all over
the country to almost 2,800 students in 4 years,
from the previous 1,400 students. The additional
scholarships will be awarded by the bank’s Regional
Delegates Forums and the 47 County Governors to
the incoming Form One Students, the bank’s Group
Managing Director and CEO Dr. Gideon Muriuki
has said. Every year the regional Co-operative bank
delegates’ forums will award 420 Scholarships
while the County Governors/ County Executives for
Education will award the remaining 235 scholarships
countrywide, at 5 per county, making the total of
655, Dr. Muriuki added.
These additional scholarships mean that in the next
four years the bank will have educated, for free,
almost 2800 students. Additionally, the bank will
be educating another over 140 students in various
universities and colleges across the country. When
added to the number of students educated since the
year 2007 when the Co-op Bank Foundation was
started, the bank will have provided education to
over 5,000 bright students who otherwise would not
have been educated.
Commenting further on this program, Dr. Gideon
Muriuki said, “Co-operative Bank has one of the
most democratic systems of granting scholarships
in Kenya. Our students are selected at the grassroots
level by Co-operative Societies across the country
through a well-established national delegates
system. Co-operative Societies, who are the face
of Kenya, identify well-performing students from
disadvantaged backgrounds and bring these names
into a regional forum where delegates debate and
select the most deserving cases. At the banks’ head
office, our role is to process payments to the schools
and monitor the students’ performance through
the four years in secondary school. The top 4 in the
Form Four examination in every region are granted
an additional full scholarship for their university
education.
Commenting on the reason why the bank has chosen
education scholarships as its flagship Corporate
Social Investment, Dr. Gideon Muriuki observed that
education is one of the most expensive items in any
household budget and yet has the highest potential
to liberate people from poverty. “Unless corporate
institutions and all people of goodwill come
together to support initiatives within the education
sector, brilliant but poor Kenyans will never realise
their full potential. Being poor does not mean that
one isn’t bright or has no potential. Majority of
Kenyans holding positions of responsibility today
were educated with loans from the Co-operative
Movement. It is for this reason that the Co-operative
Bank, being the premier co-operative institution in
Kenya, has taken the lead in this area.”
Co-operative Bank provides full school fees
scholarships for the entire four years of secondary
education. University scholarships are awarded to
the best performing students from each region. The
scholarship program was launched in 2007.
