As the demand for mobile money interoperability increases across the globe, the parties involved are kept awake to make new innovations. Safaricom has launched a partnership with Western Union to make it easier for its 29.9 million M-Pesa users to do cash transfers overseas.
The two entities are said to have been working on the new service since July 2017, when the idea was conceived.
The service, named M-Pesa Global, will allow anyone from anywhere in the world to send money to any M-Pesa customer in Kenya.
Similarly, M-Pesa customers will now be able to send money to any individual across the world for pick up at more than 500,000 Western Union agent locations.
The new deal will as well effect transfers through bank accounts to the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and Germany; while the services to bank accounts in other countries are expected to roll out in the coming weeks.
How to send money overseas using M-pesa
On a smartphone, download and open mySafaricom App. Select M-Pesa, and pick the M-Pesa Global option. Chose Western Union or any of the available options depending on your preference.
If you are an Android user, and you already had the app, you just have to refresh it to access the service, while it may take up to four days from today (Tuesday) for iPhone users to access it
If you are using a feature phone, you can access the service through USSD by dialling *840#.
Tariffs
Safaricom says the service will cost between a minimum of KES100 for a transaction of up to KES5,000 and KES500 for remitting offshore more than KES35,000.
| Min (KES) | Max (KES) | Tariff (KES) |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | 5000 | 100 |
| 5001 | 15000 | 250 |
| 15001 | 35000 | 350 |
| 35001 | 70000 | 500 |
Customers using the platform are also able to make and receive payments from PayPal users from various countries across the world. The platform also allows exchanges from World Remit and HomeSend.
