Central Bank enables M-Pesa payments for government securities on DhowCSD

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has updated its electronic payment system to allow retail investors to pay for successful government securities bids through mobile money. The feature enables direct settlements for investments in Treasury bills and Treasury bonds via the M-Pesa platform.

Payments are initiated through the Central Depository System (CSD) mobile application or web portal, known as the CBK DhowCSD platform. Under the current transactional threshold set by the central bank, investors can complete settlements of up to KSh 250,000 per transaction.

To complete a payment, successful bidders navigate to the transactions tab within the portal or mobile app. The mobile payment integration is presently restricted to the Safaricom M-Pesa service, though additional mobile money channels are expected to be incorporated at a later stage.

The introduction of mobile payment functionality forms part of the central bank's ongoing effort to digitize access to government paper. Prior to this integration, investors relied primarily on commercial bank transfers and Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) instructions to fund their CSD accounts following security auctions.

The platform requires investors to maintain an active CSD account registered through the official portal or mobile application available on standard digital storefronts.

Market participants placing bids for Treasury bills, which carry tenors of 91, 182, and 364 days, or longer-term Treasury bonds can now process their post-auction settlements directly through their mobile devices within the specified daily transaction limits.