The Central Bank of Kenya reintroduced transaction charges for mobile money wallet and bank account transactions effective 1st January 2023. These charges had been waived on March 16, 2020 as part of a raft of emergency measures in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The banks restored the charges accordingly, however, the actual rates vary from bank to bank. This should come as no surprise, since bank fees are one of the primary mediums by which commercial banks make their revenue. Consequently, each bank has a unique tariff regime for their bank to mobile money wallet transactions.
As is the norm, most banks have published these tariffs on their websites for their customers to refer to. In the case of Equity group, however, the published charges are incomplete as they don’t include the 20% excise duty (tax) levied by the government.
In addition to this tax, Equity charges an additional KES 2.26 for SMS notifications for all transactions. Likewise, this charge is not included in the official rates published by the bank.
One can however disable the SMS notifications in the Equity bank and Equity Online settings to avoid this additional charge. Note, however, this will mean that you and your beneficiaries will no longer receive SMS alerts of successful transactions when you send or pay money to them. Nevertheless, you’ll continue receiving email alerts of the transactions.
Let’s now have a look at the complete Equity to MPESA charges, inclusive of taxes and SMS charges.
Equity to M-PESA Transaction Charges
| Transfer Amount (KES) | Bank Charge (KES) | SMS Charge (KES) | Total Charge (KES) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1–100 | 0 | 2.26 | 2.26 |
| 101–500 | 11.90 | 2.26 | 14.16 |
| 501–1000 | 14.20 | 2.26 | 16.46 |
| 1001–1500 | 16.50 | 2.26 | 18.76 |
| 1501–2500 | 26.25 | 2.26 | 28.51 |
| 2501–3500 | 37.75 | 2.26 | 40.01 |
| 3501–5000 | 49.25 | 2.26 | 51.51 |
| 5001–7500 | 62.75 | 2.26 | 65.01 |
| 7501–20000 | 74.25 | 2.26 | 76.51 |
| 20001–150000 | 76.25 | 2.26 | 78.51 |
