Share

Huge increase in African mobile money transfers

Cape Town - Kenya’s Mpesa mobile phone-based money- transfer service is becoming more sophisticated and will soon be growing quickly across the continent, according to Western Union vice president for Southern and East Africa Richard Malcolm.

Malcolm said in an interview in Cape Town on Wednesday: "It’s jumping to a new level. It’s expanding its own ecosystem. They’re improving in a direction that meets the needs of the customer. It’s a good story. We should see more of those.”

Safaricom, East Africa’s biggest mobile-network operator, developed Mpesa and says 88% of its customers now use the service.

Kenya Commercial Bank, the nation’s second-biggest lender, wants to attract 15 million customers who do transactions on their mobile phones.

Among innovations offered by Mpesa is that customers can make money transfers between different network operators and between one country and another.

Customers will also be able to buy government securities using their mobile phones.

“It’s slowly gaining traction” across Africa, Malcolm said.

“It empowers the majority of the population. It brings about financial inclusion. Financial inclusion is critical for the continent. I think this is going to snowball.”

We live in a world where facts and fiction get blurred
Who we choose to trust can have a profound impact on our lives. Join thousands of devoted South Africans who look to News24 to bring them news they can trust every day. As we celebrate 25 years, become a News24 subscriber as we strive to keep you informed, inspired and empowered.
Join News24 today
heading
description
username
Show Comments ()
Rand - Dollar
18.94
-0.0%
Rand - Pound
23.90
-0.0%
Rand - Euro
20.41
+0.1%
Rand - Aus dollar
12.32
+0.1%
Rand - Yen
0.13
-0.0%
Platinum
908.05
+1.2%
Palladium
1,014.94
+1.3%
Gold
2,232.75
-0.0%
Silver
24.95
-0.1%
Brent Crude
87.00
+1.8%
Top 40
68,346
0.0%
All Share
74,536
0.0%
Resource 10
57,251
0.0%
Industrial 25
103,936
0.0%
Financial 15
16,502
0.0%
All JSE data delayed by at least 15 minutes Iress logo
Company Snapshot
Editorial feedback and complaints

Contact the public editor with feedback for our journalists, complaints, queries or suggestions about articles on News24.

LEARN MORE
Government tenders

Find public sector tender opportunities in South Africa here.

Government tenders
This portal provides access to information on all tenders made by all public sector organisations in all spheres of government.
Browse tenders