Xpress Money partners with Safaricom to offer mobile remittances

Xpress Money, described as the world’s most dependable money transfer brand, has announced its tie-up with Safaricom to offer mobile remittance services from Saudi Arabia to Kenya.
The money transfer service will be done through Safaricom’s M-PESA platform in Kenya and will further boost the m-wallet concept championed by Safaricom, making it easier and more convenient for Xpress Money customers in Saudi Arabia to receive money in Kenya.
Commenting on the partnership with Safaricom, Sudhesh Giriyan, VP and business head, Xpress Money said: “We at Xpress Money have been looking to provide our customers with increasingly innovative products and services that match their hectic lifestyles; this partnership with Safaricom is a step in that direction.”
He said: “Mobile money transfers are the future of the remittance business, and Kenya being a key focus market for us it made sense for us to introduce this service.”
Xpress Money is offering the M-PESA service to its customers in Saudi Arabia as part of the company’s phased roll out of mobile remittance channels across various countries. Apart from Saudi Arabia, countries to go live in the first phase include the UK, the UAE and Qatar, aside from Saudi Arabia.
The subsequent phases will have the service going live from other countries under the Xpress Money network and will be concluded by the end of 2014.
This partnership between M-PESA and Xpress Money comes at a time when the impact of remittances to Kenya’s economic and social development is being felt more than ever before. Over 2.5 million Kenyans live and work abroad, sending money home on a regular basis. As of February 2014, remittances to Kenya rose to $110.42 million — an 8 percent increase from the same period last year – according to the Central Bank of Kenya.