Western Union announced that now consumers can make direct transfers to the the mobile “wallets” of Safaricom M-PESA subscribers in Kenya from 45 countries and territories. “We are pleased to extend our service with Safaricom, and we look forward to adding additional functionality for M-PESA users in the near future,” said David Yates, Executive Vice President and President, Business Development and Innovation, Western Union.

The country ICT and e-commerce infrastructure of which we are to consider today is an amazing land of wonderful nature with amazing fauna and unique flora, Kenya, located in East Africa. This amazing country, that is lying along the Indian Ocean, is bordered by, at the equator, Ethiopia (north), Somalia (northeast), Tanzania (south), Uganda plus Lake Victoria (west), and Sudan (northwest). Kenya, named after Mount Kenya, a significant landmark and the second among the highest mountain peaks of Africa, has numerous wildlife reserves, containing thousands of animal species.

Equity Bank and Safaricom have launched a new service to let consumers transfer money from and to their M-PESA accounts via their mobile phones. The newly introduced bank account dubbed M-KESHO allows customers to make remittances with their handsets while enjoying other benefits of bank accounts.

The GSM Association representing the global telecom industry predicts the number of people using mobile phones for money transfers will grow exponentially in the next few years. Mobile phone banking has a bright future and mobile operators also see that. And Kenya is one of the places where this is quite evident. The nation's biggest mobile phone provider, Safaricom, says the user base for its M-Pesa mobile money service has doubled in just one year.

Kenya’s Southern Credit Banking Corporation has deployed ElectraDebit, an ElectraCard Services' offering, for its MasterCard debit card, the first MasterCard debit card in Kenya. ElectraCard Services, a provider of software solutions for electronic payment systems, has provided this product to SCBC flagship brand, 'Senator Cards'.

Equity Bank Ltd., Kenya’s second- biggest bank by market value and its biggest provider of small loans, wants to buy all of state-controlled National Bank of Kenya Ltd. James Mwangi, the lender’s chief executive officer, confirmed today that Equity Bank is interested in Kenya government’s stake in National Bank, which is being sold now, and it would prefer acquiring it 100 percent.

Last week Minister of Finance in Kenya initiated an audit of M-PESA which is believed to be prompted by instigations on the part of several local banks that being unhappy with the ever increasing success of Safaricom's mobile money transfer service are definitely determined to thwart M-PESA from the conducting its business. Four largest banks in the country united to form a special coalition or committee to precipitate the company.