By Solomon OdunayoRipple’s strategic partner MoneyGram recently collaborated with four mobile wallets and fintech payment providers, which include Airtel, Thunes, InTouch, and MFS Africa, to expand the reach of its mobile wallet to 28 markets in Africa.
According to the report, the digital services provided by MoneyGram will be made accessible for users on Thunes and InTouch starting from this week, while same services will be live at Airtel and MFS Africa in the coming months.
The partnerships are targeted at extending the capability of the mobile wallet of the money transfer behemoth across 28 markets in Africa.
The report added that the three fintech companies and Airtel that has its presence across 14 countries with its telecommunication and mobile money services, will help MoneyGram to effectively serve the increasing demand for mobile transactions across the continent.
MoneyGram Targets the Growing Opportunity in Africa
As per GSMA’s 2019 State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money, Africa is the continent with the fastest growing mobile money transaction. Based on the report, Africa has an estimated 190 million active wallets.
The growth recorded by the mobile money industry is not limited to Africa but also recorded relatively $730 billion transactions across the world in 2019.
This height of developments in Africa probably brought about the aforementioned partnerships sealed by MoneyGram, which could be beneficial to Ripple’s XRP due to the existing deal between the two payment giants.
Another thing that is of note in the recent collaborations is the timing. We are in a time when customers are increasingly choosing digital means of payments, due to the prevalence of coronavirus.
IMF Says Ripple Is Competing with Existing Money Transfer Agents
In its August report that focuses on how innovative technologies continue to make an impact in the financial sector, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) acknowledged Ripple as one of the very few new players that are competing with the old payment system.
The report reads in part as follows:
“Some new platforms aim to compete with payment systems such as TCH ACH, TCH RTP, and the Fedwire Funds Service, which are only accessible by banks. For example, RippleNet provides the software and the rulebook for a transfer mechanism, whereas financial intermediaries function as nodes and may partake in the consensus mechanism.”
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