Western Union, MTN Group roll out mobile money transfer in Africa

The new service allows MTN customers in both countries to receive a Western Union Money Transfer transaction in their mobile wallet.

Senders may select to send from a participating Western Union agent location or a Western Union digital channel; the receiver may then pick up the transfer into his or her mobile wallet. The money can be used to pay bills, conduct a person-to-person (P2P) money transfer, purchase airtime, as well as other MTN Mobile Money services available.

This new offering increases the breadth of Western Union’s payout options in country. In addition to the new mobile money transfer service with MTN, Rwandan and Ivory Coast consumers can receive funds at more than 400 Western Union locations in Rwanda and 1,350 Western Union locations in Ivory Coast.

In recent news, Western Union and Yandex.Money, an online payment service provider, have partnered in order to allow more than 22 million Yandex.Money users to send money overseas to their friends and relatives.