Western Union Uses M-PESA for Mobile Money Transfers in Africa

Western Union has announced that consumers can now send money directly to the mobile ‘wallets’ of Safaricom M-PESA subscribers in Kenya from 45 countries and territories. The expansion of the service to more than 80,000 Western Union agent locations worldwide follows the successful debut in the UK of the offering from Western Union agent locations and its website.

The service rides on Western Union’s global ‘hub’ for processing cross-border remittances. It also builds on the success of M-PESA, a domestic mobile money transfer service in Kenya offered by Safaricom that has attracted more than 13.5 million customers since its launch in 2007.

Safaricom chief executive officer (CEO) Bob Collymore said: “This partnership sees us pushing new boundaries to continue to keep Kenya at the forefront of the mobile world. Through this partnership, our customers and their friends and families will benefit from affordable, faster and more convenient international remittances, and the money is available to use straightaway for any M-PESA transaction, or can be withdrawn as cash at any of our 24,000 Safaricom agents.”

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