Zain Begins Mobile Money Transfer Services

Philip Sowah- Zain Ghana Boss

Zain, the leading mobile operator in the Middle East and Africa, and Western Union, a global leader in money transfer, have announced that they will work together to deliver mobile money transfer services in African countries and the Middle East through Zain's new Zap platform.

The Zap service provides Zain customers with access to a full range of transactional services from their mobile phones. Customers can interact with select bank accounts, top-up or transfer airtime, and move money to businesses, friends and family.

The service allows customers to pay bills such as electricity, and they can even be used to settle grocery bills in the supermarket. Zap has been operational in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda for several months, making mobile banking services available to more than 100 million people in East Africa. Zain has announced plans to introduce Zap in 22 markets.

Western Union has a global agent network of more than 334,000 locations in 200 countries and territories. Once the service is launched with Zain, consumers will be able to send cash money transfers from participating Western Union locations around the globe in the same way they do today.

Zap customers who are enrolled in the service in select countries will be able to choose whether they want to receive their money in cash at a Western Union Agent location or in accounts tied to their mobile phones (their “mobile wallets”).

Money-transfer receivers who receive funds in their mobile wallets will be able to pay bills, buy airtime or cash out through the Zap service at more than 12,000 Zap agent locations in East Africa.

The service will be introduced in select countries when regulatory approval has been secured.

The service with Zain will be operational in countries with significant international and intra-Africa remittance activity.

“Zain's initiative has the potential to provide millions of people with access to convenient financial services for the first time,” said Gail Galuppo, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Western Union.

“The ability to move money with a mobile phone is changing the landscape of financial services. We look forward to connecting Western Union's global network with the Zap platform to extend services throughout Africa.”

According to industry group Aite, people living outside their country of origin sent nearly $400 billion in remittances around the globe in 2008. Sub-Saharan Africa alone received an estimated $10.8 billion in remittances in 2007. Major recipients of remittances include Nigeria, Kenya, Sudan and Uganda.

Announcing the launch, Dr Saad Al Barrak, Zain Group CEO, said, “This service will enable the millions of people who are abroad to send money home swiftly to their friends and families not only in the cities but also directly to the villages across these countries.

“This partnership clearly demonstrates the revolutionary role mobile communication can play in improving the livelihoods of the communities we serve, proving that our Zain brand promise of 'A wonderful world' is more than just a slogan.”

Western Union has established cross-border Mobile Money Transfer pilots in a variety of corridors around the globe.

The Western Union service currently allows mobile subscribers in the Philippines to receive funds sent from select Western Union Agent locations directly into their mobile wallets.

In the future, Western Union will also offer consumers the option to send funds directly from their mobile phones for pickup at Western Union Agent locations globally or directly to another mobile subscriber.

Western Union is extending its global distribution network through alliances with mobile network operators.

According to independent research from Informa, by the end of 2013, more than 424 million mobile users will be sending money to other mobile users in the same country via their mobile phone, and 73 million will be sending money internationally via their mobile phones.

The top three regions – Western Europe, North America, Africa and the Middle East are expected to account for more than 75 percent of the global international mobile money transfer gross transaction value.

This service and alliance with Western Union is a unique deal for Zain and falls within its “Drive11” program to focus on customer-facing services and commercial activities.

Drive11” is a component of the ACE strategy designed to propel Zain into the world's top-10 mobile telecommunications companies by the end of 2011.

From Business Desk