Kenya’s Family Bank has partnered with SimbaPay, a London based Fintech, to start a fast, affordable money transfer service from the East African nation to China.
Under the initiative, Kenyans will be able to send money to China’s WeChat pay from Family Bank’s PesaPap mobile application.
Being the largest payment and social media app in China, WeChat will connect Africa’s largest mobile money ecosystem to China’s largest payment service in real-time.
“This is a huge milestone for us and our customers. We are glad to extend, more so to our SME customers, a solution that offers an instant, reliable, traceable and affordable channel to send money to their suppliers and business partners in China,” Godfrey Kamau, the Family Bank’s Chief Operations Officer, said in a statement issued on Wednesday, November 28.
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Using QR codes, SimbaPay developed a third-party payment aggregator that enables funds delivery into WeChat’s billion subscribers.
In a statement, SimbaPay said the deal will help boost trade between Kenya and China.
According to the companies, more than seven million customers and businesses in Kenya will now have access to SimbaPay’s international money transfer service and will be able to send money to WeChat Pay from Family Bank’s PesaPap mobile banking application and USSD service.
Non-customers can access the service through a dedicated PayBill number 261059 on MPESA, noted the companies in the press release.
WeChat has more than 1 billion subscribers and is the largest payment and social media app in China.
WeChat, which has more than a billion subscribers, is the largest payment and social media app in China.
“This initiative, therefore, connects Africa’s largest mobile money ecosystem to China’s largest payment service in real-time,” said SimbaPay.
It said traders in Kenya already use WeChat to communicate with their suppliers in China, hence this solution will be faster and less expensive as all a user requires when sending money to China is the recipient’s mobile phone number.
“Money sent by Family Bank customers and non-customers via the SimbaPay service is instantly delivered to WeChat Pay recipients in Chinese yuan. This service offers the sender a chance to review the transaction and exchange rate applicable before releasing the payment,” said SimbaPay.
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