WorldRemit expands African mobile money play with MFS Africa

Leading digital money transfer service WorldRemit continues its rapid expansion in Africa, launching new international mobile money services through a partnership with pan-African fintech MFS Africa.

This launch brings WorldRemit’s mobile money service to five new countries via Airtel in Malawi and Niger, Orange in Madagascar, Vodacom in Mozambique, and MTN in Guinea.

WorldRemit’s mobile-first, digital model saves customers time and money as they don’t need to visit a money transfer agent to send funds home to their loved ones. Using the WorldRemit app or website, the diaspora living in over 50 countries can now send instant low-cost money transfers at any time to 15 million mobile money users across the five countries.

WorldRemit is the leading digital remittance company connected to 190 million mobile money accounts globally. With this new announcement, WorldRemit is connected to 39 mobile money services in 29 countries. Almost half of its transfers to Africa go to mobile money services.

MFS Africa is Africa’s largest digital payments hub, connecting over 180 million mobile wallets on the continent. Through a single API, MFS Africa connects mobile wallet systems, banks, money transfer operators, and merchants to enable real-time, cross-border and cross-network transactions.

Dare Okoudjou, Founder and CEO of MFS Africa, said, “Our mission at MFS Africa is to bring down the costs of remittances into and within Africa, and we achieve that by leveraging the power of mobile money and digital payments. WorldRemit is known as a leader among the new generation of digital-first money transfer operators, and we’re thrilled to be a partner in their expansion strategy. We are looking forward to growing our networks together to help reach more users with more affordable and accessible remittance services.”

According to the World Bank, remittances to Sub-Saharan Africa increased by over 9.6% from 2017 to 2018, reaching $46 billion. However, the region is still the most expensive in the world to send money to, with an average cost of 9.3%.
Andrew Stewart, Managing Director of WorldRemit for the Middle East and Africa comments, “WorldRemit is committed to supporting financial inclusion across Africa by enabling the unbanked populations to receive money directly into their mobile wallets, without the need for a bank account. Our partnership with MFS Africa helps us accelerate our financial inclusion mission while expanding our footprint across the continent. 

Our best-in-class service offers convenience and peace of mind to over four million customers worldwide. Over 90% of WorldRemit transactions are authorised within 10 minutes and customers can track their money’s journey in real-time using our ‘Track your Transfer’ function.”

SOURCE: AGENCIES