Safaricom secures regulatory nod for second money market fund

When a product does well, you do it twice.

That’s the case of Safaricom, Kenya’s biggest telco, which is launching a second money market fund product. The company has received approval from the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) for the product called Ziidi.

Five years ago, Safaricom launched its first money market fund, Mali. Mali currently manages an asset base of $23 million. 

The new product is a collaboration between Safaricom, Standard Investment Bank, ALA Capital Limited, and Sanlam Investments East Africa Limited. It is expected to go live next week, according to people familiar with the matter.

Safaricom’s strategy to expand into the money market fund sector is straightforward, since M-PESA already generates a significant portion of its service revenue—KES 77.22 billion ($596 million) in the first half of 2024, according to its latest financial report. 

Expanding M-PESA’s service offerings is a logical move to boost earnings, with declining profitsfrom voice and SMS services.

Ziidi will likely integrate with M-PESA and allow customers to invest and withdraw earnings directly through their M-PESA wallets.

We will get more details when Safaricom officially launches the product.

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If you are a GT Bank customer, you’ve likely dreaded opening your bank app in the past seven weeks. The Nigerian tier-1 bank, with over 32.8 million retail customers, has faced significant backlash as its migration to a new core banking software, Finacle, triggered service disruptions that are yet to be fully resolved.

Across social media, complaints have poured in: incorrect account balances, unauthorized debit and credit alerts, and outright inaccessibility of services. For many, even routine transactions became a gamble, forcing customers to think twice before sharing their GT Bank account numbers.

On October 14, the bank closed its 235 branches nationwide, citing delays in the migration process that took “longer than planned.” While technology overhauls are inherently complex, GT Bank’s execution has raised questions about its preparedness for such a significant shift.

The migration to Finacle was necessary for GT Bank which needed a technology that allowed it to stay nimble and provide customisable core banking technology services that catered to all its banking needs.

The migration was finalised in October 2024. Yet, the hiccups continued into November. 

After weeks of silence, GT Bank has now apologised to its customers for the network problems over recent weeks. It’s the bank’s first public statement since the service disruption started weeks ago. Unfortunately, the apology contained no information about improvements. 

For GT Bank, the road to recovery will require more than restoring technical stability. Transparent communication, improved customer service, and visible efforts to prevent future occurrences will be key. For now, customers can only hope the bank’s next announcement is not another apology, but a definitive end to the disruptions.

MTN Nigeria isn’t just leading the 5G race in West and Central Africa, it’s zooming past competitors like a Formula 1 car while others are still figuring out how to start their engines. 

According to Ookla’s Q2 2024 Speedtest Intelligence, MTN Nigeria hit download speeds of 95.62 Mbps and upload speeds of 17.01 Mbps. That’s not just fast; that’s hold-onto-your-hats fast.

How did they do it? Well, MTN Nigeria splurged a cool $120 million on 5G infrastructure. The telco launched its 5G network in 2022, starting with seven cities, and now has over 2,100 sites covering 11% of Nigeria’s population. 

With 2.6 million subscribers hogging all the bandwidth, MTN owns 79% of the country’s 5G users.

Airtel is trying its best with a respectable 4G median speed of 30.35 Mbps, but let’s face it: they’re bringing a knife to a 5G gunfight.

MTN isn’t only ahead of its rivals, but also putting Nigeria ahead of South Africa in 5G penetration—because why stop at regional dominance when you can go continental?

While 5G adoption in the region is still in its infancy, MTN Nigeria is the tech-savvy overachiever of the class, paving the way for a future where the only thing slower than their internet will be your grandma’s text replies.

When Nigeria’s Central bank raised interest rates on Tuesday, it didn’t come as a surprise to many analysts. What was surprising was the 25-basis-point increment. Many analysts who spoke to TechCabal predicted a 50–100 bps increase.

The CBN governor’s 25 basis points (bps) increment meant that the bank might be slowing down its aggressive Monetary tightening cycle. 

Since the year began the CBN has raised rates six consecutive times to fight against inflation, raising interest rates by close to 9%. Yesterday’s increase was the smallest this year and only the second time it’s raised rates by that small a margin.

Cardoso yesterday said the CBN was still committed to curbing inflation and achieving a positive inflation-adjusted interest rate to attract investment and support the naira.

The governor also expressed optimism that the inflationary pressures stemming from recent fuel price hikes and currency devaluations will begin to wane, withresults rolling in as soon as the first quarter of 2025. If that happens, analysts expect interest rate cuts to begin in the second quarter of 2025. 

Written by: Kenn Abuya, Emmanuel Nwosu, and Faith Omoniyi

Edited by: Timi Odueso & Ganiu Oloruntade