Airtel Money Africa has extended its partnership with Africa’s largest mobile money payment service provider, pawaPay for cross-border payments for licensed International Money Transfer Operators (IMTOs) across additional seven economies in Africa.
The deal, signed Tuesday, furthers pawaPay’s inbound remittance services in Uganda, Rwanda, Zambia, Malawi, Gabon, Congo Brazzaville, and Tanzania.
What it means is that IMTOs will directly deliver funds to more than 161 million Airtel Money wallets globally, supported by pawaPay.
Airtel Money will leverage pawaPay’s infrastructure which processes over four million transactions daily.
“We’re pleased to expand our partnership with pawaPay to advance international remittances across Africa,” said Ian Ferrao, CEO of Airtel Money Africa. “Their proven reliability and commitment to African consumers make them an ideal partner.
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pawaPay CEO Nikolai Barnwell said the deal “allows International Money Transfer Operators to leverage our world-class infrastructure for seamless cross-border payments.”
According to the World Bank, Sub-Saharan Africa is still the most expensive region in the world to transfer money to, with an average remittance cost of 8.37% in the second quarter of 2024.
In 2023, the area received $54 billion in remittances. They, for example, account for more than 20% of GDP in The Gambia, Lesotho, and the Comoros, as well as more than 10% in Liberia, Cape Verde, and Guinea-Bissau.
Even in larger economies such as Kenya, remittances are more valuable than some of the country’s main exports.
The high cost of remittances to Sub-Saharan Africa is due to a range of factors, including middlemen and foreign exchange fees.
