Nation Reporter
9 November 2009
Nairobi — Cash4africa, an international money transfer brand has been launched in Kenya.
The service, to be operated initially by Dubai Bank, will allow Kenyans in the US, EU and the Middle East to send remittances, pay bills, make direct deposits into their accounts by using any of its 100,000 partner agent locations worldwide.
The launch is expected to strain revenues and ignite new price wars for traditional money transfer players in Kenya.
"Cash4africa recognises that it is entering into a highly competitive market in Kenya. However, competitive pricing and distribution and history of dependability will be the differentiator," said Mr Edwin Momanyi, the firm's global sales manager.
Piled pressure
The rapid growth in mobile phone money transfers has piled pressure on formal and informal cash transfer platforms that dominated the industry before the advent of the phone-based system pulling down their market share and revenues.
M-Pesa, which rides on Safaricom's network has about eight million registered users while Zain has 350,000 customers and has transacted more than Sh1 billion since February's launch of its Zap service.
Other transfer platforms, including MoneyGram, PostaPay and Western Union have lost their market share and now control only three per cent of total transfers, from close to a 10th two years ago.
On the continent, Cash4africa operates in seven African countries including Ghana, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Uganda, Malawi and Zambia.
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