Customers can send money through a variety of channels, including directly into their bank accounts, and can collect their cash up at more than 500,000 Western Union agent locations.
“M-pesa Global seeks to connect Kenyans to opportunities by making it easy and seamless for them to transact with the world and for the world to transact with Kenyans,” said Sitoyo Lopokoiyit, chief financial services officer of Safaricom.
To use the service, customers can dial *840# or select “M-pesa Global” in the M-pesa menu on MySafaricom App. It will cost between Sh100 and Sh500 in fees to send between Sh100 and Sh70,000.
The mobile services provider said cash transfers through bank accounts to the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and Germany will be available immediately, while services to bank accounts in other countries will be rolled out later.
The new service will enable customers to make and receive payments from more than 200 million PayPal customers from 200 markets across the world. Other partners available on the platform include World Remit and HomeSend.
The mobile money services platform is used even for business and other formal transactions, handling trillions of shillings.
