On December 9, 2020, Xoom, a money transfer company owned by PayPal, introduced a new service in the U.S., U.K., Canada, and Europe for sending money to mobile wallets to 12 African countries. The new service is expected to promote financial inclusion for the under-banked in the region. In Ghana, Kenya and Zimbabwe, over 60 percent of adults have mobile money accounts.
Xoom Low-Cost Mobile Wallets Transfers to Africa
“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 as of 2019, there are 1.04 billion registered mobile money accounts in Sub-Saharan Africa,” noted Julian King, Xoom Vice President and General Manager, in a press release.
While money transfers to Africa are the most expensive in the entire world, Xoom will bring down the cost to 2-4% of the mobile wallet transfer to supported countries.
The countries where Xoom customers can send money to a mobile wallet are Burundi, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. More countries will be supported in the future.
In addition to the new service for money transfer to a mobile wallet in the countries above, Xoom customers have all along being able to send money to a bank account or cash pick up location in Algeria, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, eSwatini, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
How to Send Money to Africa With Xoom
To send money to Africa with Xoom, you need to download Xoom’s mobile app on Android and iOS or set up your account on Xoom website or log in using your PayPal credentials.
Xoom was founded in 2001 and in 2015 was bought by PayPal for more than $890 million.