This article breaks down transaction charges when moving money from your NCBA Bank account to your M-Pesa or Airtel Money mobile wallet.

Starting 1st January 2023, banks will charge you when moving money from your bank account to your mobile money wallet. Similarly you will be charged when moving money from your mobile money wallet to your bank account. We’ve already given a breakdown of the M-Pesa Paybill charges here. (They will be the costs you’ll incur when moving money from your mobile money to bank)

The NCBA to Mobile Money charges are as follows:

Amount Transacted	Bank to M-Pesa Charges	Bank to Airtel Money charges
1 – 100	0	0
101 – 500	10	11
501 – 1,000	12	18
1,001 – 1,500	14	20
1,501 – 2,500	23	25
2,501 – 3,500	33	35
3,501 – 5,000	43	45
5,001 – 7,500	55	55
7,501 – 20,000	65	65
20,000 – 150,000	67	65

It will now cost you money both when adding cash to your mobile money account from your bank, and when depositing. Remember, it is banks and telcos that pushed for us to go back to this situation, something that had been introduced in 2020, in a bid to encourage cashless adoption.

In total, moving say KES 5,000 from your mobile money wallet to your bank and back will cost you approx KES 83, up from KES 0. It will be quite something to see how Kenyans react, and how this affects use of cashless means.