Kenyans in Diaspora remitted US140 million in January alone, making them the biggest senders of digital remittances to mobile accounts.
While marking the 10th anniversary of the mobile money service M-PESA, WorldRemit, one of the largest remittance companies serving the Kenyan diaspora, said transfers to mobile money accounts make up 93% of their transactions to Kenya now – ‘showing that Kenyans continue to be early adopters of innovative technology, even when abroad’.
‘Mobile money has played a key role in the growth of WorldRemit’s Kenyan customer base, attracted by the low price, speed and convenience of sending instant remittances from the app or website directly to a mobile phone in Kenya,’ a release by Africa Press Organisation, on behalf of WorldRemit, indicates. Around three million Kenyans live abroad, with large communities in North America, Europe and Australia.
“Kenya is famed for leading Africa’s digital transformation, and today it’s Kenyans abroad who are at the forefront of digitising international money transfers. Most of our Kenyan customers use our mobile app, demonstrating the strong demand for convenience when sending to friends and family,” Ismail Ahmed, Founder and CEO at WorldRemit, said.
He added: “With half a billion registered accounts worldwide, mobile money continues to transform lives by allowing people to access financial services for the first time. WorldRemit customers now send more than 65,000 transfers to the country every month from the WorldRemit app and website with over 90% going to M-PESA.”
According to WorldRemit, top remittance-sending countries are the UK, Australia, US, Germany, Canada and Nordic countries and the company is now connected to over a fifth of all mobile money accounts – 112 million of 500 million mobile money accounts around the world.
Also, the company has pioneered mobile to mobile remittances, sending to 32 mobile money services in 24 countries – more than any other money transfer service, and globally, WorldRemit customers send more than 580,000 transfers every month to over 140 destinations.
