Equity Bank’s Mobile Products

One thing that often comes up when talking to our customers is that people are confused by the different Equity mobile products available.  We have moved swiftly over the last year to build and launch many mobile financial services and there hasn’t been a cohesive explanation of how they all fit together.  If I had to sum it up: we want to provide a mobile financial solution for every Kenyan – whether you’re already a mobile money user with one of the telcos or if you would rather be independent of the telco products.

So here goes a brief attempt.

	Eazzy 24/7	Orange Money	M-Kesho
Customer Benefit	More ways to access and use your Equity bank account no matter what carrier you’re on.	Get the great user experience of STK with the security and functionality of a full bank account.	Easily and conveniently move money between your M-Pesa account and a bank account.
Channels of Access	USSD, SMS, WAP, and J2ME	STK & USSD	STK
Customer Charges	Same as typical bank fees for all features Customer pays for connectivity	Same as typical bank fees for all bank features P2P charges vary	M-Pesa -> M-Kesho: Free M-Kesho -> M-Pesa: 30 KES Bank balance, mini statement: 5 KES

Eazzy 24/7: Eazzy 24/7 is our independent and “purely Equity” way for Equity customers to manage and take action on their Equity bank accounts.  We have made Eazzy 24/7 available through multiple channels: USSD, SMS, WAP, and J2ME[1].  With Eazzy 24/7 you can look up your account balance, purchase airtime (for your own phone or someone else’s), transfer money to another person’s bank account, pay bills, request a mini statement and even apply for a short-term loan[2].

Orange Money: Orange Money is a collaborative effort between Orange and Equity.  Orange customers can sign up for and open an Orange Money account which has an Equity bank account at its core.  It’s accessible on USSD as well as on the SIM Toolkit (STK) and it offers similar functionality: look up your account balance, purchase airtime (for your own phone or someone else’s), transfer money to another person’s bank account, pay bills, and request a mini statement.

M-Kesho: M-Kesho is a collaborative effort between Safaricom’s M-Pesa and Equity.  Registered M-Pesa users can sign up for an M-Kesho account which is an Equity bank account that is linked directly to their M-Pesa account.  A major benefit of M-Kesho is that once registered, the user’s M-Pesa menu on the STK is updated with an M-Kesho section.  M-Kesho offers our customers several advantages over keeping money in their M-Pesa account, including: account deposit protection, no limit to the amount that can be saved (M-Pesa has a limit), and interest earned above a minimum threshold.  Money can be conveniently transferred between your M-Pesa account and your M-Kesho account to take advantage of these features.

Beyond these mobile products, Equity has also enabled Kenyans to withdraw cash from their M-Pesa and Yu Cash accounts from all of our ATMs, providing a great alternative to cash merchants in cases where the cash merchants don’t have enough float.

What do you think — any questions about Equity’s mobile products?

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[1] After registering for Eazzy 24/7, it can be accessed over USSD by entering in *247#; over WAP at https://m.equitybank.co.ke/wap and the J2ME apps are available for download from https://m.equitybank.co.ke.

[2] This service, called “Temporary Over-Draft,” is only available once a customer signs up once at a branch – thereafter it can be done entirely over the mobile phone.