Safaricom on Thursday announced that it has signed up six banks in Kenya to its SIM-Swap-Check Anti-fraud solution.

Safaricom says the solution avails to banks an API (Application Programming Interface) through which they can query when a customer’s SIM card was last swapped.

The information then empowers the financial institutions to decide on the likelihood of a customer’s transaction being fraudulent then allows them to take extra steps for safety.

Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa noted that the rapid growth of Kenya’s FinTech sector has seen a rapid growth threat environment targeting both customers and FinTech operators.

“It is therefore necessary for different players to partner around innovations that protect customers and their funds to safeguard the gains made,” said Ndegwa.

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He added, “At Safaricom, we have developed SIM-Swap-Check and ATM Vicinity Check solutions that we have made available to banks to empower them to reduce fraudulent transactions.”

The SIM-Swap-Check solution avails to banks a free monthly quota of checks and a premium tier above for extra checks above the free quota.

According to the telecommunications firm, the solution was developed after an analysis of reports of fraud to tackle social engineering of customers to conduct fraudulent SIM swaps.

Safaricom is also providing banks with a free ATM Vicinity Check solution that ensures an ATM withdrawal can only be done if a transacting client is in the same location as the ATM.