Via Quartz Africa, commentary on how banking via WhatsApp is spreading from east Africa to far beyond:

How about forgetting all the ATM cards and banking apps you have and instead transacting through WhatsApp? That practice is already making inroads in east Africa, and it could be bigger than you can imagine.

This week I sat down with Kihara Maina, chief executive of I&M bank, with branches across east Africa. He is optimistic about the potential of WhatsApp banking, fueled by the rising affordability of smartphones and mobile internet.

“We want to keep offering customer-centric solutions to Africa’s youth.”

Though Absa was the first bank to launch the service in the region when it unveiled it for Kenyans last year, I&M has rolled it out in Tanzania and Rwanda in the past few months. Maina says it will launch in Kenya later in the year.

How does it work? Well, the bank usually has a contact that acts as a WhatsApp Business number. You have to save it in your contacts and then initiate a conversation by saying “Hi.” It will give you prompts to check balances, statements, requesting new checks, and more. To send money, you only need to open the chat window of the recipient, tap the payment option, type amount, enter PIN, and send the money.

Last year I interviewed Absa’s head of digital channels Andrew Mwithiga, and he said regarding security, “We have put up stringent measures to make WhatsApp banking secure for everyone. We have several security layers on the platform.” He also spoke about Meta’s double encryption and internal cybersecurity mechanisms.

The long term goal is to make your WhatsApp number your bank account just as your email is the bank account number on PayPal. It sounds convenient. If history has shown anything though, it’s that wherever banks are innovating, fraudsters will be on the lookout for loopholes.