TerraPay, a leading global payments infrastructure company announced its partnership with Safaricom, Kenya’s leading telecommunications, IT, and financial services provider. Together, both companies will usher in the benefits of financial inclusion by facilitating instant borderless payments. The partnership, through TerraPay’s group company Mobex (Kenya), a licensed money remittance provider, will enable more than 30 million M-PESA mobile wallet-holders in Kenya to send real-time payments through TerraPay’s interoperable network across all wallets in Bangladesh & Pakistan, with plans to roll out India & Nepal in a few months.
Given the rise of cross-border deals, in the six months to March 2023, M-PESA Global transactions grew YoY in volume & value by 2.2% & 5.6%, respectively. The adoption of mobile money payments in Kenya has been increasing following the Central Bank’s push for the service, in recent times. Through this partnership, both companies aim to work towards creating a financially inclusive payments ecosystem while fostering financial empowerment and independence.
Speaking on this new partnership Ambar Sur, Founder & CEO, TerraPay said “We believe this breakthrough collaboration with Safaricom will usher a world of new possibilities for mobile financial service operators to directly scale globally and provide customers with the choice to send payments in a secure, transparent, and swift manner. Our partnership with Safaricom will further boost our capabilities in providing an inclusive global financial ecosystem with excellent technical solutions, cultivating an affinity by empowering Safaricom customers with fast & affordable borderless payment options and access to TerraPay’s widespread partner network of 7.5Bn+ bank accounts and 2.1Bn+ mobile wallets.”
Commenting on the partnership’s launch, Peter Ndegwa – CEO, of Safaricom stated, “We are thrilled to partner with TerraPay as it comes at a time when a growing number of customers are embracing digital payments to send money to their loved ones. TerraPay’s interoperable technology platform will enable our customers to execute secured & low-cost payments across key regions further encouraging the adoption of digital payments in the region. We look forward to a successful collaboration.”
