Kacha Digital Financial Service Joins EthSwitch

Ethiopia’s first ever private mobile money service provider, Kacha Digital Financial Service, has joined EthSwitch, the national switch operator. The two entities signed an agreement today, August 30th, 2022, at Hilton Hotel.

EthSwitch, will provide Kacha interoperability with the already built financial and payment industry network that will enable any transaction, authorization, and clearing of payments and transfers to and from existing financial services providers, including banks and MFIs from a single interface. 

“We are happy and proud to welcome the first private mobile money service provider and facilitate its interoperability with the payment ecosystem. I would like to extend a warm welcome and congratulations to Kacha,” said Yilebes Addis, EthSwitch’s chief executive officer, during the signing ceremony.

“For a financial institution, accessibility and acceleration of transactions through interoperability are major priorities, and I am glad Kacha has succeeded on time and before going live,” said Abreham Tilahun, CEO of Kacha DFS.  

Currently, Kacha is working on final preparation and piloting its platform before its commercial launch. Once commercialized, Kacha’s mobile money platform, in collaboration with banks, microfinance institutions, and SACCOS, will be able to provide cashless transactions through 30,000 agents onboarded across Ethiopia.

Kacha’s plan includes opening a mobile wallet account, cash in, cash out, fund transfer, bill payment, unsecured micro credits, direct payments, bill payments, fund transfers, airtime top-up, card payments, international remittance, micro saving, micro-insurance, and other innovative services. 

By joining EthSwitch, Kacha’s mobile Wallet system is now interoperable with existing and upcoming payment systems, allowing its customers to transfer funds from and to other financial institutions using their mobile wallet and accounts.

Kacha, registered with a subscribed capital of birr 200 million, became the first private firm to receive a mobile money license from the National Bank of Ethiopia in July 2022. 

Eth-Switch, a firm owned by a consortium of all banks, including the central bank, was established in 2011 to provide simple, affordable, secured, and efficient e-payment infrastructure services to retail payment service providers and through them, to end users in Ethiopia,