Grace Ashiru
The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has started a new system called the Kenya Quick Response Code Standard 2023 (KE-QR Code Standard 2023) to encourage mobile payments and internet transactions in the country.
The project aims to enable different financial institutions in the country to work together. This will be done by letting customers pay using a QR code, eliminating the need for different ways to pay for different vendors. Other players, like Airtel Money and T-Kash, can also use Safaricom’s M-PESA PayBill and till numbers
Over 600,000 businesses in Kenya have till/PayBill numbers that can be used to make payments.
The KE-QR Code Standard 2023 was made in collaboration with payment service providers, banks, and card schemes. It will give users a more secure and direct way to pay digitally.
Merchants will also gain from the new system because they won’t have to install multiple PayBill or till number systems for their businesses.
Given how popular PayBill is for mobile money wallets and POS machines for card payments, the new method will likely get more stores to use QR codes for payments. The new plan will be implemented as players adjust their operations to meet the new rules.
The KE-QR Code Standard 2023 is meant to encourage mobile payments and internet transactions, which are becoming increasingly popular in Kenya.
