Dubai: Money transfer company Xpress Money on Friday said it has tied up with Safaricom to offer mobile remittances to Kenya from the UAE.
The money transfer services will be done through Safaricom’s M-PESA platform in Kenya and will help remit, receive and transact money through mobile phones through m-wallet concept championed by Safaricom.
“Mobile money transfers are the future of the remittance business, and Kenya being a key focus market for us it made sense for us to introduce this service in the country,” said Sudhesh Giriyan, Vice President & Business Head — Xpress Money.
The M-PESA service on Xpress Money channels will be rolled out in a phased manner the company said. Countries to go live in the first phase include UK, UAE, KSA and Qatar. The subsequent phases will have the service going live from other countries under the Xpress Money network and will be concluded by the end of 2014.
M-PESA has over 15 million subscribers in Kenya, making it one of the most prolific money transfer on the mobile platform. Xpress Money is offering a promotional pricing for Kenya from UK and UAE. Customers sending money from UK to Kenya via Xpress Money to M-PESA will enjoy a low transfer fee of £2.99, while customers from UAE will be able to do so at a flat price of Dh15.
More than 2.5 million Kenyans live and work abroad, sending money home on a regular basis. As of February 2014, remittances to Kenya rose to $110.42 million — an 8 per cent increase from the same period last year — according to the Central Bank of Kenya.
“At 111 billion Kenyan shillings (Dh4.66 billion, $1.3 billion), diaspora remittances are Kenya’s fourth largest source of foreign exchange making this a market that is hard to ignore.
