Send money from Switzerland to Kenya
Payroll for locally hired staff in Nairobi, a field allowance for a team in Turkana, a consultant's invoice due at the end of the month. Grey pays out in Kenyan shillings to M-Pesa or a Kenyan bank account, and the rate and fee are on screen in Geneva before anything moves.
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Kenyan shillings, paid locally from Geneva or Bern
A great deal of what Geneva plans happens in Nairobi. The English speaking side of Swiss international practice, the UN secondments, the NGO programme offices, the research consortia, ends up paying Kenyan people in Kenyan shillings: monthly salaries for locally hired colleagues, per diems for field visits, fees for an evaluator who invoices from Kilimani.
Grey settles that in KES. The money lands in an M-Pesa wallet or an account at Equity Bank, KCB Bank, Co-operative Bank, NCBA or Standard Chartered Kenya as an ordinary domestic credit. Nobody on the receiving end needs a Grey account, and nobody needs a Swiss one.
Paying Kenya from Switzerland, in three steps
Sign up
A passport or a Swiss residence permit is enough. Verification usually finishes before you have typed out the first Nairobi recipient.
Fund
Top up a euro balance by SEPA transfer from UBS, PostFinance, Raiffeisen or your cantonal bank. If consultancy income arrives in dollars, a USD account provided by Lead Bank holds it and converts straight to shillings.
Send
For M-Pesa you need the registered Safaricom number. For a bank payout you need the account number. Read the KES figure, then confirm.
What the Kenya route actually costs
Grey separates the two. The conversion into KES is quoted on screen, the fee sits beside it, and the shilling figure your colleague in Nairobi will see is the figure you approved in Geneva. When a programme budget has to reconcile at the end of a quarter, that is worth more than shaving a franc off one payment.
Small payments are where hidden pricing does the most damage. Twenty field allowances behave very differently from one salary, and both should be priced where you can read them.
The rate is fixed when you confirm
Once you tap send in Geneva, the KES amount is settled. Movement in the shilling between then and the moment it lands in Nairobi is carried by Grey, not by the person receiving it.
For a salary that has to match a contract figure, or an allowance a field team is already counting on, an amount that cannot drift after approval is the entire point.
Grey against a Swiss bank transfer to Kenya
A SWIFT payment from a Swiss bank leaves in euros or dollars and is converted somewhere along the chain, at a rate nobody quotes in advance, minus whatever the intermediary keeps. It also cannot reach M-Pesa at all. Grey quotes the KES before you commit and delivers to the wallet or the bank account directly.
On the Kenyan side
The shillings arrive as an ordinary local credit. An M-Pesa payout shows up in the wallet the way a payment from a Nairobi employer would, and a bank payout appears on the statement like any domestic transfer.
M-Pesa payout
Straight to the recipient's registered Safaricom number. This is how most locally hired staff and field consultants would rather be paid.
Bank payout
Equity Bank, KCB Bank, Co-operative Bank, NCBA and Standard Chartered Kenya, addressed by account number.
If they use Grey
GreyTag skips the payout rail entirely, costs nothing and lands in seconds.
Getting money into the account
The working balance for a Swiss sender is euros, funded by SEPA from a Swiss bank, because Grey holds no francs. From there Kenya is a conversion and a confirmation.
SEPA from a Swiss bank
UBS, PostFinance, Raiffeisen and the cantonal banks all send euros by SEPA.
Invoice income
Euros or dollars already earned fund the next Nairobi payment without a detour through your current account.
Existing balance
A funded balance converts to KES and goes out in the same sitting.
A fixed payroll date is easier to hit from a balance that is already sitting there than from a transfer started that morning.
What Switzerland sends to Kenya
Local staff salaries
Monthly pay for Kenyan colleagues hired directly by a programme office, delivered in shillings on the date the contract names.
Field allowances
Per diems and travel money for teams working outside Nairobi, where an M-Pesa wallet is more use than a branch.
Consultancy fees
Evaluators, translators, data collectors and legal advisers in Nairobi who invoice in shillings.
Family and study
Kenyan professionals in Zurich, Basel and Zug supporting relatives at home or paying university fees in Nairobi.
For English speakers in Switzerland this is not mainly a family remittance corridor. It is a working one, driven by the international sector in Geneva, Bern and Zurich, and the payments look like payroll and invoices rather than pocket money.
Why this route works from Switzerland
The benefit of an open EUR to KES rate does not show on one payment. It shows when a year of Nairobi payroll is added up, and in never having to explain to a colleague why their salary arrived short.
Rate and fee visible in Geneva, shillings settled in Nairobi to an M-Pesa wallet or a Kenyan bank account, and a record at both ends.
FAQs
Which currency does my recipient in Kenya receive?
Kenyan shillings. Grey converts your balance in Switzerland to KES before the payment leaves, so nothing is converted again at the Nairobi end.
Can I pay a Nairobi consultant's fee in shillings from Geneva?
Yes. Enter their bank account or M-Pesa number, confirm the KES figure on screen, and the fee settles in local currency.
Which Kenyan banks can Grey pay?
Equity Bank, KCB Bank, Co-operative Bank, NCBA and Standard Chartered Kenya. M-Pesa wallets are supported too, using the recipient's registered Safaricom number.
Can I hold Swiss francs on Grey?
No. Grey offers no franc balance, so Swiss senders fund in euros by SEPA transfer from their own bank and convert from there.
Does my colleague in Nairobi need a Grey account?
No. The shillings arrive in their existing M-Pesa wallet or bank account as an ordinary local credit, with nothing to install.
How is the exchange rate decided?
Grey shows the live EUR to KES rate before you confirm and fixes it at that moment, so the rate on screen is the rate applied.
What do I need to open an account in Switzerland?
A valid identity document, such as a passport or Swiss residence permit. The account is free and usually ready in about five minutes.
Is there a fee as well as the rate?
Yes, and both appear before you confirm. Grey shows the conversion rate and the fee separately rather than folding one into the other.
Can I send to Kenya from a dollar balance?
Yes. A USD account provided by Lead Bank converts to shillings in one step, which suits consultancy and grant income paid in dollars.
Can I track the payment from Switzerland?
Yes. Every transfer is encrypted and tracked from confirmation to settlement, so you can see when the shillings reached Nairobi.
Can I pay several Nairobi recipients from one balance?
Yes. Add each recipient once and pay them as often as needed, with the KES amount and fee shown on every transfer.
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