NIC recently launched NIC mobile a banking service that uses USSD interface to avail banking services through the mobile phone. The USSD interface ensures that the channel more efficient, cost effective and user friendly.Key features of NIC Mobile are the SMS notifications and the transactional facilities available to customers.
Of more importance though is the linkage with Safaricom’s Mpesa money transfer system. Now you can load your Mpesa account with NIC Mobile banking.
How is the transaction done?
- access to the mobile banking menu on NIC Mobile is by dialing *488#
- go to Mpesa transfer
- enter the amount to debit from your NIC current account
- funds transferred from NIC current account to your Mpesa account
- you get an Mpesa credit notification
- you proceed to do your regular manenos (say pay for sms credits from Zunguka.com ) from your Mpesa account
How do you benefit?
- no queuing or looking for mpesa agent with sufficient float
- ease and convenience
So what can you do once you upload your mpesa value to the phone?
- send money
- withdraw cash from an mpesa agent
- buy airtime
- paybills ala kplc etc
- withdraw cash from pesa point ATM’s
Whats the cost?
- You are subject to standard mobile banking tariff
- you will be billed ksh 60, 30 bob goes to NIC and 30 bob to Safaricom
- the cost of convenience varies eg. if you move money from your current account to your mpesa and proceed to get cash from a pesapoint atm since that may be the closest to your location you end up paying close to 100 bob to access your cash. You might as well use your ATM card…unless you don’t have one and incur the “exorbitant” recently increased access fee of 70 bob on PesaPoint ATM’s
More on the NIC Mobile Banking Product – see the demo…click here
SMS Notifications
Customers on NIC Mobile service will directly receive notifications of any of these transactions occurring in their account. This feature is open to Safaricom, Zain, Orange and Yu subscribers upon registration.
1. Debit and Credit Notification
2. Loan Credit Notification
3. Unpaid Items Notification
4. Overdrawn Account Notification
5. Visa Debit Card Transaction Notification
6. Visa Credit Card Transaction Notification
7. Cleared Cheque Notification
Transactional Banking
Customers on NIC Mobile can initiate these transactions through their mobile phone. This feature is currently only open for Safaricom subscribers only.
1. Balance Enquiry (including the available and ledger balances on the account)
2. Mobile Top Up
3. Mini Statement Request ( up to 5 transactions)
4. Funds transfer – internal (NIC Accounts) and external accounts (customers nominate accounts to transfer to upon registration)
5. Stop cheque – real time stopping of issued cheques
6. Service requests
- Cheque Book Order (through our Customer Contact Centre)
- Full Statement Request (through our Customer Contact Centre)
- Cheque Status Request – customer can find out if the cheque is issued, processed, stopped
- Forex Rate Request for 15 currencies (AED, TZS, AUD, UGK, CAD, USD, CHF, ZAR, DKK, EUR, FRF, GBP, INR, JPY, NOK)
7. My Settings – Password / PIN Change
NIC Mobile will also allow customers to use SMS Chat directly with NIC Customer Contact Centre and thus make enquiries via SMS and get information on various banking products during the normal banking hours.
