Giant Telco service provider Safaricom has initiated a partnership which will give subscribers the ability to transact in over 26 nations across the world.
The new deal between Safaricom and Ria Money Transfer, a Euronet Worldwide subsidiary was announced on Monday with an aim of benefiting almost 26 million M-pesa users.
Ria was reportedly the second largest money transfer network worldwide, having 389,000 regions located in 161 nations.
"We are excited to partner with Ria Money Transfer to enable Mpesa customers to receive money transfers from even more locations from around the world. This partnership will further increase the value we provide to our customers by even offering them more choice and the power to receive transfers directly into their M-PESA accounts," Safaricom CEO Michael Joseph told the Standard.
"We are confident in the success of this partnership and the benefit it will bring to our customers," noted Juan Bianchi, Euronet Money Transfer Segment's CEO.
Clients will be notified about the transfer charges in addition to the exchange rates that apply before they can proceed on with the transactions. Any transactions will be reflected instantly on the M-PESA accounts of the recipients.
This, will greatly help in reducing the turmoil experienced by the customers having to either convert the money, or visit transfer unions in order to receive the cash.
Reports by Central Bank of Kenya statistics already indicate that 40% of monetary transactions are through M-PESA.