M-PESA has successfully decreased its daily cash reversal requests by 67% from 12,000 to 4,000 by enhancing its Hakikisha feature. This update marks a significant achievement for Safaricom in enhancing transaction accuracy and reducing the workload associated with rectifying incorrect transfers.
Addressing the issue of erroneous transactions, which have been a concern for M-PESA users and a financial burden for Safaricom, the telco has revamped the Hakikisha feature. Initially introduced in 2015 to display recipient details before confirming payments, the feature had limitations that led to unintended transfers. Users found the process of canceling transactions within 15 seconds challenging, resulting in more mistakes.
To rectify this, Safaricom redesigned Hakikisha, replacing the previous opt-out system with a straightforward Yes or No confirmation pop-up. This enhancement has significantly reduced the number of mistaken transfers and subsequent reversal requests.
The positive impact of this improvement has been felt beyond M-PESA, with Kenyan banks and other mobile money services adopting similar verification features to prevent misdirected payments. By retrieving recipient details before finalizing transactions, banking apps have also improved their processes, reducing the time taken for reversals.
While the update has raised privacy concerns, leading to some users exploiting Hakikisha to verify personal details without completing transactions, M-PESA has implemented a cap on verification attempts to address this issue.
As M-PESA approaches its 18th anniversary, it continues to play a pivotal role in Kenya’s financial landscape with 34 million subscribers as of November 2024. Being a significant revenue generator for Safaricom, M-PESA’s half-year revenue grew by 16.6% to KES 77.22 billion ($597 million) ending in September 2024. With fewer transaction errors and an improved user experience, M-PESA solidifies its position as the preferred digital payment platform in Kenya.