Visa announced that customers of a Visa-affiliated banks in Kenya will be able to send money to each other domestically without paying transaction fees using mVisa, according to a press release.

The card network last year introduced mVisa, a QR code-bade mobile-payment service that is intended to accelerate digital commerce in Kenya and across Africa.

The partnership offering free person-to-person transactions includes nine Kenyan banks that have either enabled mVisa on their mobile banking applications and/or have acquired merchants that accept mVisa. These are Barclays Bank, Cooperative Bank, Ecobank, Family Bank, KCB Bank, National Bank of Kenya, NIC Bank, Prime Bank and Standard Chartered Bank will be able to send money for free starting from today.

Other banks, either live or about to go live with mVisa, include Diamond Trust Bank and Stanbic.

Consumers can use mVisa to send funds directly from their bank to a recipient's bank account regardless of whether they use a smartphone or feature phone. Transactions are processed via Visa's global network, VisaNet.

MVisa also will now be accepted at thousands of merchant locations across the country including Nakumatt, KenolKobil, IMAX Theaters, EatOut, Zucchini, Little Cab, Kenya Airways, and Bata. It will also soon be accepted at thousands of merchants aggregated through Direct Pay Online and Jambo Pay, enabling an even easier e-commerce experience for Kenyans.