Transactional Fee from Bank to M-Pesa in 2023

Kenyan Banks will charge customers a transactional fee (plus excise duty of 20%) when moving funds from their bank to M-Pesa and Airtel Money mobile money wallets. 

Mobile Money wallets will also charge fees when moving cash from the wallets to bank accounts. That means the zero-rated transfer of cash we’ve enjoyed is going away. 2023 is gearing up to be an expensive year.

It seems different banks will charge different fees. We’d expected a standard fee, but from the different tweets and social media posts we are seeing, that will not be the case.

It’s also not clear whether or not the different rates we’ve seen announced include the 20% excise fee (or if the excise fee is charged on the amount you actually transact, making it vary with each transaction).

We already covered the transaction charges you can expect from Family Bank here. In this article, we are going to try and compile every single bank who’ve shared its costs.

Let’s go:

KCB Bank Transactional Fee:

KCB’s charges are the highest we’ve seen shared online.

AMOUNT TRANSACTED	BANK-TO-MOBILE MONEY CHARGES
1 – 100	0
101 – 1,000	25.20
1,001 – 1,500	25.20
1,501 – 5,000	30.00
5,000 – 20,000	32.40
20,000 – 150,000	34.80

Family Bank Transactional Fee:

Family banks have an extra row of between KES 15,000 to KES 20,000, and between KES 20,000 to KES 150,000. This is unlike other banks.

AMOUNT TRANSACTED	BANK TO M-PESA CHARGES	BANK TO AIRTEL MONEY CHARGES
1 – 100	0	0
101 – 500	10	11
501 – 1,000	12	13
1,001 – 1,500	14	20
1,501 – 2,500	23	25
2,501 – 3,500	33	35
3,501 – 5,000	43	45
5,001 – 7,500	55	55
7,501 – 10,000	55	55
10,001 – 15,000	65	65
15,001 – 20,000	65	65
20,001 – 150,000	67	65

Stanchart Bank Transactional Fee:

Stanchart and DTB have fairly similar charges.

AMOUNT TRANSACTED	BANK TO MOBILE MONEY CHARGES
1 – 100	0
101 – 500	11
501 – 1,000	15
1,001 – 1,500	18
1,501 – 2,500	25
2,501 – 3,500	35
3,501 – 5,000	47
5,001 – 7,500	57
7,501 – 20,000	67
20,000 – 150,000	70

National Bank Transactional Fee of Kenya:

National Bank has broken down the charges quite well showing that both the bank and the telco are benefiting from each transaction.

AMOUNT TRANSACTED	BANK TO M-PESA CHARGES	BANK TO AIRTEL MONEY CHARGES
1 – 100	0	0
101 – 500	10	11
501 – 1,000	12	13
1,001 – 1,500	14	20
1,501 – 2,500	23	25
2,501 – 3,500	33	35
3,501 – 5,000	43	45
5,001 – 7,500	55	55
7,501 – 20,000	60	60
20,000 – 150,000	67	65

Equity Bank Transactional Fee:

Equity has made it clear that these charges are exclusive of government taxes. Which means the charges could be higher.

AMOUNT TRANSACTED	BANK TO M-PESA CHARGES	BANK TO AIRTEL MONEY CHARGES
1 – 100	0	0
101 – 500	10	11
501 – 1,000	12	13
1,001 – 1,500	14	20
1,501 – 2,500	23	25
2,501 – 3,500	33	35
3,501 – 5,000	43	45
5,001 – 7,500	55	55
7,501 – 20,000	65	65
20,000 – 150,000	67	65

Diamond Trust Bank Transactional Fee:

Here are the DTB charges:

AMOUNT TRANSACTED	BANK-TO-MOBILE MONEY CHARGES
1 – 100	0
101 – 500	11
501 – 1,000	15
1,001 – 1,500	18
1,501 – 2,500	25
2,501 – 3,500	35
3,501 – 5,000	47
5,001 – 7,500	57
7,501 – 20,000	67
20,000 – 150,000	70

NCBA Bank Transactional Fee:

It isn’t clear if these will be the same charges for people using NCBA Loop accounts.

AMOUNT TRANSACTED	BANK TO M-PESA CHARGES	BANK TO AIRTEL MONEY CHARGES
1 – 100	0	0
101 – 500	10	11
501 – 1,000	12	18
1,001 – 1,500	14	20
1,501 – 2,500	23	25
2,501 – 3,500	33	35
3,501 – 5,000	43	45
5,001 – 7,500	55	55
7,501 – 20,000	65	65
20,000 – 150,000	67	65

Other banks:

Please share down below, or through socials, what your respective banks will be charging.