Kenya has cut clearing time for a commercial bank cheque to one day from two to reduce the costs of doing business and to fend off growing competition from mobile phone-based payment systems that operate in real time.
The east African nation accounts for half of all the money sent across mobile phone networks in the world per day, thanks to the M-Pesa service, offered by telecoms operator Safaricom .
"This is part of a multiple strategy to be able to allow money to flow," Jeremy Awori, chairman of the Kenya Bankers Association, said of the move to cut cheque clearance times.
"If we have more of this non-cash moving around and we reduce the amount of cash that is used for payments, it will help the economy grow faster," he told a news conference.
http://www.reuters.com/article/...es-idUSL6N0G12UG20130731