MFS Africa to Power Cross-Border xP2P Services Between MTN Mobile Money and M-Pesa in Africa

MFS Africa announced today that its mobile money hub (MFS Africa Hub) has been selected by telecom giants Vodafone and MTN to interconnect their respective M-PESA and MTN Mobile Money platforms in the East African region. Vodafone Group and MTN Group recently announced plans to enable their customers in the DRC, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia to send money across borders directly from their mobile money accounts. The remittance flows among countries covered by MTN and Vodafone in Africa is estimated at US $3.6 billion annually.

Accessing the service via USSD menu, a customer will enter the beneficiary phone number and amount to be sent in his or her local currency, and will be able to see the amount the beneficiary will receive in the destination currency before confirming the transaction. The money will be deducted from the sender’s M-PESA or MTN Mobile Money account, and credited immediately to the recipient’s mobile wallet – MFS Africa manages the settlement between the mobile money operators.

MFS Africa is the largest mobile money aggregator in Africa, with more than 45 million registered wallets connected to its platform across 13 countries.  The MFS Africa Hub enables mobile money operators to extend the widely popular P2P service beyond their borders, with full interoperability (xP2P). In December last year, MFS Africa powered the xP2P service between MTN Benin and MTN Cote d’Ivoire, a service that has captured 10% of all remittance between the two countries in less than six months.

“MFS Africa is already our partner in West Africa, and we are pleased to extend our relationship with them to East Africa” said Serigne Dioum, Head of Mobile Financial Services at MTN Group.

“MFS Africa’s proposition fits perfectly with our ambition to offer affordable international remittances in the East Africa region. The company built the largest footprint of mobile wallets in Africa and we are happy to work with them on cross border transfers to MTN Mobile Money customers in Africa,” said Selma Ribica, Commercial Strategy Manager for M-PESA at Vodafone Group. “We look forward to a fruitful collaboration,” she added.

“We are thrilled to partner with Vodafone and MTN to bring mobile simplicity, speed, and convenience to cross-border money transfer in Africa. For too long, African consumers have had to settle for high prices, limited offering, and opaque exchange rates when it comes to intra-African cross-border payments,” said Dare Okoudjou, founder and CEO of MFS Africa. “We are confident that the cashless revolution that started in Kenya almost a decade ago will now unlock not only intra-African remittances, but also intra-African trade and contribute to economic growth in the region,” he added.

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About MFS Africa - MFS Africa is a pan-African company that develops innovative solutions that add functionality and value to mobile wallets. The company works in close partnership with mobile network operators and financial institutions to bring simple and relevant financial services to un- and under-banked customers; MFS currently connects to over 45 million mobile wallet customers in sub-Saharan Africa and will add another 10 million mobile wallet customers through the addition of MTN Mobile Money Zambia, M-PESA Tanzania and M-PESA DRC to its platform. In June 2012, MFS Africa launchedMTNMMO.COM a web-based international money transfer service in partnership with the MTN Group. The company’s MFS Africa Hub also connects existing money transfer organizations (MTOs) to mobile wallets in Africa, allowing MTOs to take advantage of the growing popularity of mobile wallets as safe, convenient, compliant and cost effective delivery channel for international remittances.