Western Union teams up with MFS Africa to enable cross-border mobile money transfers in Africa

Africa's largest payment gateway, MFS Africa, has partnered with Western Union to enable individuals and businesses across the continent to receive money from over 200 countries and territories.

The partnership will enable funds to be sent from countries around the world to mobile wallets across Africa through the organization's licensed payment rails. The service will first launch in Madagascar, and eventually in other countries across the continent.

Kumar Shourav, Managing Director, MTOs at MFS Africa noted that a partnership like this is unprecedented in the industry, with huge potential benefits, value, and impact implications in the long run. “At MFS Africa, we have always believed in making payments as simple as possible. Payment infrastructures globally have traditionally remained fragmented and local in nature. Africa’s 54 countries are diverse not just in terms of population, development levels, growth rates, and stability but with payment infrastructure and regulations as well," Kumar said.

He added that "Africa's fast-growing populations and markets present important opportunities for businesses and individuals in an environment of slowing global growth. MFS Africa has more than a decade's worth of experience in navigating the challenging African payments landscape. Its direct relationship with mobile wallet players, banks, cash pick-up networks and regulators on the continent is unmatched in the industry. Western Union is a global leader in cross-border, cross-currency money movement and payments."

Through this partnership, both organisations will provide customers, businesses and Global Development Organisations across the world with access to convenient payout options in Africa. This will foster better integration between Africa and the rest of the world and will go a long way in supporting financial inclusion across the continent.

Western Union's ethos is based on empowering the aspiring populations of the world with accessible financial tools to improve the lives of their loved ones and communities.

"Our efforts to drive global financial inclusion mean delivering on customer needs today and into the future. Through our partnership with MFS Africa, we are excited to come together and deliver on our joint commitment to bring innovative solutions for customers as they support their families and accelerate their momentum up the economic ladder," Hassan Chatila, Global Head of Account Payout Network, Western Union, said.

This collaboration to provide access to transacting across borders will further cement MFS Africa as a preferred, better, and one-stop solution for payments into and within Africa. Whether you’re a young entrepreneur in the merchant marketplace, require access to collect loan repayments from customers or need to send bulk payments, MFS Africa strives to continuously connect senders, recipients, and service providers across the continent.

"Innovation, commitment to customer focus and financial inclusion are at the heart of everything we do at Western Union. We are deeply committed to the region and remain focused on advancing cross-border money movement solutions for the people in this region, their communities as well as the broader economy. Through our collaboration with MFS Africa, we look forward to achieving our common critical role in getting money to the places where and when it is most needed," Mohamed Touhami El Ouazzani, Regional Vice President of Africa, Western Union, added.

According to a statement shared with Benjamindada.com, MFS Africa's full-service digital payments network connects over 400 million mobile money wallets, over 200 million bank accounts across Africa, and over 200,000 agents in Nigeria, to enable cross-platform and cross-border payments for remittance companies, mobile network operators, banks, non-bank financial institutions and global merchants.