Faced by a growing competition from telecommunication companies through mobile banking, Kenyan banks have taken on an alternative branchless banking service also know as agency banking that leverages on existing businesses to offer simple banking services on the side.

In a feature CNBC Africa highlights the high growth of these form of banking that was launched by regulators in Kenya in 2011 and has since grown to become a $4 billion transaction per year industry with over 30,000 agents already signed up.

“Banking today is not about where you go, but it’s about what you do,” Joshua Oigara, chief executive at Kenya Commercial Bank — the largest bank by assets in east Africa — told CNBC Africa.

“We came from 2,000 agents three years ago and we have 7,000 currently. Our vision is to double our agents every year. If you look at the industry as a whole we have 30,000 agents currently but we believe by the end of five years we will build 300,000 agents.”