MFS Africa: international mobile money transfers in Africa

In an announcement made by MFS Africa, the leading fintech platform in Africa, has partnered with Xoom - a PayPal service - to provide secure and convenient mobile money transfers to seven countries in Africa.

As part of the partnership MFS Africa will connect Xoom to its digital payment hub, allowing customers in the UK, Europe and North America to send money to people in Cameroon, Ghana, Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The company has plans to include more countries in Africa in 2021. 

“Africa is a very important market for Xoom and we are delighted to expand our services in the continent. There is nowhere else in the world that moves more money on mobile phones than Sub-Saharan Africa. While there are only five bank branches per 100,000 people in sub-Saharan Africa as of 2019, there are over a hundred times that number of mobile money agents. Africa has nearly half of the global total of registered mobile money accounts—almost 400 million in total,” commented said Julian King, Vice President and General Manager, Xoom.

The partnership is expected to create new possibilities for remittances in sub-Saharan Africa - estimated to be worth US$51bn in 2020. Currently Africa is one of the most expensive in the world to send money to, with an average cost of 9.3 per cent. The partnership is also expected to help tackle this, allowing transparent and competitive pricing. 

“Xoom – and their parent company PayPal – are pioneers in digital-first payments, and we are excited to partner with Xoom to further connect our network to the wider world. Diaspora remittances have always been critical for the livelihood of hundreds of millions of Africans and leveraging digital channels to deliver those remittances has always been an important part of our mission. But in a time of global crisis, when brick-and-mortar money transfer stores are not open, connecting digital payments players in the diaspora to the largest network of mobile wallets in Africa doesn’t just make good business sense – it’s the right thing to do from a public health and human welfare perspective, too.,” added Dare Okoudjou, founder and CEO of MFS Africa, commented on the partnership. 

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