Kenyan diaspora still send money home through traditional remittance channels
NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 18 – New research from WorldRemit reveals that the Kenyan diaspora could be losing as much as $13 every time they send money home this festive season due to the high cost of traditional remittance channels.
Despite the widespread adoption of digital money transfer services in Kenya, many Kenyans in the diaspora are still using traditional offline channels to send money home.
Last year, Kenyans living abroad sent home $2 billion and the run up to Christmas is always one of the busiest times to send money.
The savings were highest when sending from New Zealand to Kenya, with an average saving of $13.
“Most Kenyans in the diaspora send money home several times a month. When it costs around $4 to make a return trip from somewhere like Machakos to Nairobi, the costs of collecting money through traditional channels really add up,” notes Sharon Kinyanjui, Head of East Africa at WorldRemit.
According to the report, eight out of ten people have found that switching to digital channels has made money transfer simpler not just for the senders, but also for their recipients.
However, the majority of global remittance flows are still going through informal channels.
“Now you send money from abroad straight to a mobile money account, there’s no need to travel to an agent every time they need to collect the funds or to pay someone else a share to do so. With transfers to mobile money, our customers can put their money right into the hands of their loved ones at Christmas,” adds Sharon Kinyanjui.
