Vodafone and MoneyGram have teamed up to enable mobile remittance allowing
Agreement will allow consumers to transfer funds from 200 countries to all M-Pesa users
consumers to transfer funds directly from around 200 countries to the millions of users of M-Pesa. This service will be launched in key markets during Q2 2014, with additional roll-out planned throughout the remainder of the year.
The agreement will allow consumers who visit MoneyGram’s 334,000 agents across the globe to send funds directly to M-Pesa accounts. MoneyGram customers can also transfer money to an M-Pesa user through moneygram.com or via a mobile app, available on iPhone, Android and Windows 8 phones.
M-Pesa – which allows customers to pay bills and withdraw, transfer and deposit money easily – is now available in the following countries – the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Fiji, India, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, South Africa and Tanzania. Additional markets are due to launch M-Pesa during 2014.
The World Bank estimates that more than half of all inhabitants in the countries in which M-Pesa is available do not have access to a traditional bank account. With most of these inhabitants belonging to low-income rural areas and becoming increasingly reliant on cross-border transfers, mobile money provides a simple and low-cost method for geographically dispersed families to bank and transfer funds.
“There is huge demand for sending funds back to family and friends in your home market and an estimated $90bn per year is transferred to M-Pesa markets from around the globe,” says Michael Joseph, Vodafone Director of M-Pesa. “Our partnership with MoneyGram provides the most extensive global network and greatest number of access points for consumers wishing to transfer funds to M-Pesa users.”
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