Absa Bank Kenya will start issuing long-term high-value loans via its mobile loan service, as the lender moves to strengthen the capabilities of the service it introduced more than six years ago.
The lender said it would evolve Timiza into a standalone mobile-only financial services business as part of its strategy to grow and diversify its retail business.
The Timiza app was launched in mid-March 2018 as part of the bank’s investment in digital innovations. The platform currently offers mobile loans of up to Sh150,000 with a 30-day repayment period.
Chief strategy officer at Absa Bank Kenya Moses Muthui said, without giving timelines, the lender would make changes to the product to start issuing loans valued above Sh150,000 and with longer tenors.
“We haven’t fully switched on the capabilities of Timiza. We have pretty much used Timiza as an additional short-term borrowing channel. You can expect us to expand our offering of borrowing products to longer-term loans of higher value” he said.
“We also expect to switch on more capabilities because we truly see the market moving to micro and mobile-only financial services. We are really seeing a growth opportunity here. Thirty percent of our loans in terms of the total value we lend in retail come from Timiza.”
Mr Muthui added that making Timiza a stand-alone business would give it the runway to build and develop much faster, allowing for the introduction of other capabilities such as unit trust.
Absa’s Timiza app currently allows for mobile insurance, which enables customers to access personal accident and funeral expense cover for as little as Sh42 per month.
Customers can also send money, pay bills or purchase airtime and also save and earn returns with a Timiza savings account.
Along with Timiza, the growing space of bank-backed lending app products includes Commercial Bank of Africa’s M-Shwari, Equitel, M-Co-op Cash, and KCB M-Pesa.
Absa in January added an automated teller machine withdrawal option on the Timiza platform, allowing customers to access funds from any of the lender’s cash-automated outlets.
