WorldRemit, one of the top digital money transfer company, launches a free of charge remittance transfer service for Ethiopian diaspora in the United States.
“The free service program aims to expand WordRemit’s brand awareness campaign among the Ethiopian community in the United States, as well ashelp Ethiopia increase remittance income coming through the legal channel,” said Elifagid Aregahegne, WorldRemit head of business development & operations.
He stated that out of the global estimated $600 billion annual remittance, 90% is transferred through cash. The target of WorldRemit after entering the market in 2010 is to change this scenario by introducing digital money transfer.
“In that regard we are succeeding in many countries. Today 74% of the mobile money / mobile wallet remittance from the developed world to the developing countries goes through WorldRemit,” he told NewBusinessEthiopia.com.
In the past year, transactions to Ethiopia via WorldRemit grew by 160%. Top remittance sending countries to Ethiopia via WorldRemit include Australia, United States, Canada and United Kingdom.
Including the last two deals with Cooperative Bank of Oromia and Abay Bank, WorldRemit is currently working directly with eight banks in Ethiopia. The biggest bank of the state, Commercial Bank of Ethiopia, and Awash International Bank, among others have been working with WorldRemit, according to Mr. Elifagid, who indicated that the total number of WorldRemit partner banks in Ethiopia will be increased to 12 in the coming few months.
WorldRemit customers complete one million transfers every month from over 50 countries to over 145 destinations. More than half of its transfers go to Africa.
Compared to other money transfer companies, which charges up to 10% service fee of the total amount of the money one transfers, WorldRemit is the most affordable, according to Sharon Kinyanjui, Head of East & Central Africa at WorldRemit.
“If someone for instance wants to send $100, we only charge 0.99 cents. This is because we use technology, which reduces our costs,” she said, speaking at the partnership signing event in Addis Ababa on Tuesday.
The company believes that expanding partnership with many banks supports its plan to serve 10 million customers connected to emerging markets by 2020.