Have you ever needed to send money to someone who is abroad but encountered problems? Global money transfer services has over a long period of time depended on western union, but today, Kenyans must have received the better news ever.
Rather than transferring your money to your pay pal account then again to Mpesa before you can withdraw, or sending to bank via western union, you can now do it at the convenience of your phone.
International remittances to mobile phones have turned out to be quite the game changer. According to a report by Financial Sector Deepening, more than half of International Money Remittance customers in the country now prefer receiving money into their phones.
Based on this observation, Safaricom has played a big role in accelerating the digitization of international remittance through M-PESA.
That moment you realize you can now send cash out of Kenya from your phone! #MPESAGlobal pic.twitter.com/yfjc5xZq11
— TopBloggerKE™ (@DaviesKinanga) November 6, 2018
Today, they have enhanced the International Money Transfer transaction delivery process in compliance with POCAMLA regulation. And in addition, safaricom are now open to direct integration with any authorised local and international remittance service providers.
According to the Central Bank of Kenya, international remittances into Kenya grew from about $30,000 per month in 2004 to about $65,000 per month by the end of 2010.
This was a two-fold growth within six years. However, what is interesting is what happened next.
.@SafaricomPLC has now partnered with Western Union to enable more than 21 million M-Pesa customers to now affordably & instantly send money to any person across the world from their phones #MPESAGlobal pic.twitter.com/x4uccoQxPB
— TopBloggerKE™ (@DaviesKinanga) November 6, 2018
Between 2011 and June 2018, monthly remittances grew from about $65,000 to more than $260,000. In the six years from 2011 to the end of 2017, the rate of growth in remittances more than doubled again.
This phenomenal growth would have been almost impossible to maintain were it not for one magical device – the mobile phone. Just over seven years ago, to be exact, on the 31st of March 2011, M-PESA began its spread beyond the country.
This was in a partnership with Western Union that empowered their 13.5 million customers then to receive money from more than 45 countries.
Their partnership with western union goes back to December 2008, when they came together to enable Kenyans in the United Kingdom to send money back home, from Western Union agent locations into M-PESA.
Will your person abroad now ever encounter problems in receiving money due to delay in the process of sending? Just tell them you have M-PESA or give us your views!.