MoneyGram has entered into a partnership with Thunes, Airtel, InTouch and MFS Africa, to enable its customers to send money directly to mobile wallets in Africa. The partnership has enabled MoneyGram to offer money transfers to mobile wallets in 28 African countries.
Quick Facts
- MoneyGram is an American money transfer company founded in 1988. It operates in over 50 countries in Africa.
- Thunes was established in 2016 in Singapore to enable mobile wallet providers, platforms, PSPs, money transfer operators and banks to make financial services accessible worldwide.
- MFS Africa is a Pan-African fintech that facilitates money transfer to mobile wallets in Africa. It covers over 200 million mobile money recipients across all major networks.
- Airtel is one of the major telecom provider in Africa. It operates in 14 countries in Africa.
- InTouch is a Senegalese fintech that uses a single terminal to make a wide range of payment methods interoperable (electronic money, mobile money, store credit cards, cash, etc.).
Announcing the partnership, Peter De Caluwe, CEO of Thunes, said:
Our robust technological capabilities will enable MoneyGram to achieve greater efficiencies which will bring about significant benefits for MoneyGram customers. In working together with MoneyGram, we strive to help them extend their reach worldwide. Beyond Africa, our next step is to facilitate MoneyGram’s expansion into Asia and Latin America.
According to the GSMA’s 2019 State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money, there were over 400 million registered mobile money accounts. The value of mobile money transactions were over 41 billion USD.
Mobile money agents have 7x more reach than ATMs and 20x more reach than bank branches.