In the now-famous words of Cabinet Secretary for Health, Mutahi Kagwe: “If we continue to behave normally, this pandemic will treat us abnormally.” 

This does not just apply to adherence to public health containment measures to check the spread of the highly contagious Coronavirus (Covid-19).

It is applicable to all facets of life. This is the season to adjust and adapt to what is fast becoming the new normal. 

Following the adverse effects of the virus, the global economic outlook for 2020 has progressively deteriorated, as the disruption contracts trade volumes. 

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) projects -4.9 per cent growth this year globally and one per cent for Kenya’s more resilient economy.

These projections could be revised further downwards, as the pandemic bites.

Four months since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in Kenya, there has been unimaginable change in our lives.

Children are not in school; and parents have had to play both teacher and caregiver roles. 

We are confined in our homes with nowhere to go unless visiting essential places such as hospitals and shops.

Businesses have had to shut down and scale down operations. This has left many people working from home with a pay cut or on unpaid leave.

Digitisation has also been a prominent feature during these uncertain times.

With movement largely restricted, maintaining social distancing has been one of the ways to stay clear of the disease. Communication, interactions, and services have all gone digital. 

Essential places

The digital shift is happening in the banking industry too. According to the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), the number of transactions conducted outside banking halls have grown from 88 per cent in the period before the pandemic this year (January to March) to 94 per cent between April and May. 

A big chunk of these transactions have been on the mobile phone, with CBK estimating 61 per cent during the pandemic, compared to 44.4 per cent before it struck.

The lesson here is that our customers are shifting to mobile and other digital channels.

Whereas the concept of innovation has always been with us, it has never been more relevant than it is today.

In this season, the reality of innovation has been brought to light as a sure way to solve big problems. 

The financial services sector has innovated to drive financial inclusion in communities and push for business growth over the years.

There has been a surge in digital lending, increased efficiency in service delivery, to mention a few. The pandemic has further accelerated this.

For KCB Group, a great shift happened when we partnered with Safaricom in 2015 to develop KCB M-Pesa, which revolutionised digital banking.

With the ease of mobile money transfer, we have seen a shift in the way our customers’ bank and how we run our day-to-day operations.

Today, approximately 95 per cent of all our transactions are done outside the traditional brick and mortar branch building. 

The pandemic outbreak has now thrown another spanner in the works. Undoubtedly, we all want to survive the negative effects brought about by this pandemic and continue thriving years to come.

With this new dawn, innovation in the digital space is the solution. 

This means innovation beyond mobile money products to drive efficiency in operations, while bringing banking costs down for the benefit of customers.

This is the type of innovation that focuses on engaging customers and other stakeholders, and how systems are set up and operated. 

Access to credit

One of the innovations that have accelerated access to credit has been the Credit Information Sharing system.

The recent review of Credit Reference Bureaus (CRBs) regulations led to a refresh of the previous framework that has been in place since 2013. 

The new model now allows for exchange of borrowers’ credit information between lenders and CRBs, ensuring that punitive blacklisting does not occur and also allows more borrowers access to cheaper loans, as they can access borrowing history. 

The future that we envision is one that customers know and understand what they need and what they do not need.

This pandemic has given us time to reflect on our lives, assessing what is essential and what we can do without. 

With this new mind-shift, the onus is on us, as players in the financial sector.

We need to embrace this new normal and use innovation as a tool to bloom. – Joshua Oigara is the KCB Group Chief Executive Officer and and Managing Director