11th Feb 2014 08:03
LONDON (Alliance News) - Vodafone PLC said Tuesday that it was teaming up with money transfer and global payment services company MoneyGram International Inc to allow customers from around 200 countries to be able to transfer funds directly to M-Pesa mobile banking accounts.
M-Pesa is a mobile payment system developed by Vodafone which allows users to pay bills, withdraw, transfer and deposit money like a traditional bank account. It is currently available in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Fiji, India, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, South Africa and Tanzania, which additional markets due to launch during 2014.
MoneyGram and Vodafone plan to allow consumers from around 200 countries to transfer funds directly to any M-Pesa user's account, either by visiting MoneyGram's agents, via MoneyGram's website or through a mobile application.
This new service will be launched in key markets in the second quarter of 2014, Vodafone said, with additional roll-outs planned for the rest of the year.
"There is huge demand for sending funds back to family and friends in your home market and an estimated USD90 billion per year is transferred to M-Pesa markets from around the globe," said Director of M-Pesa at Vodafone Michael Joseph in a statement.
Vodafone shares are up 0.05 pence at 222.05p at the open Tuesday.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; [email protected]; @HanaSSAllNews
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