Safaricom's mobile payment service, M-PESA, has achieved a significant milestone in its efforts to improve transaction accuracy, reducing daily cash reversal requests by 67% after refining its confirmation feature, Hakikisha. The update has significantly reduced mistaken transfers, cutting reversal requests from 12,000 to 4,000.

Erroneous transactions have long been a pain point for M-PESA customers and a costly drain on Safaricom's resources. Before Hakikisha's rollout, the telco spent considerable time investigating and reversing payments sent to the wrong recipients. Initially launched in 2015, the feature was designed to curb these errors by displaying the recipient's name before payment confirmation. However, early versions required users to dial a number within 15 seconds to cancel a transaction, a cumbersome process that led to unintended transfers rather than preventing them.

Anita Kaunga, Product Manager for M-PESA Consumer Payments, acknowledged the feature's initial shortcomings, stating, "The call to action was not very clear. Customers had to dial '1' to stop a transaction, and many didn't know what to do." Realizing the feature wasn't working as intended, Safaricom redesigned Hakikisha, replacing the previous opt-out system with a simple Yes or No pop-up message that requires confirmation before a transaction proceeds.

The improved version has significantly reduced mistaken transfers, cutting reversal requests by two-thirds. The impact extends beyond M-PESA, with nearly all Kenyan banks and rival mobile money services, including Airtel Money, adopting similar verification features to prevent misdirected payments. Banking apps now retrieve recipient details before transactions are finalized, a crucial improvement for banks where reversals can take a week or longer.

However, the update has also raised privacy concerns. Some users have exploited Hakikisha to verify personal details such as names without completing transactions. In response, M-PESA has capped such verification attempts at five per day, disabling Hakikisha for users who exceed this limit.

M-PESA, which turns 18 on March 25, remains a dominant force in Kenya's financial ecosystem. The service had 34 million subscribers as of November 2024 and continues to be a top revenue driver for Safaricom, recording a 16.6% year-on-year growth to KES 77.22 billion ($597 million) in the half-year ending September 2024. With fewer transaction errors and a more seamless user experience, M-PESA is reinforcing its role as Kenya's go-to digital payment platform.

The success of Hakikisha's refinement is a testament to Safaricom's commitment to improving its services and addressing customer pain points. As M-PESA continues to evolve, it is likely to remain a key player in Kenya's digital payment landscape, driving innovation and growth in the region's financial sector.