Kenya’s Fidelity Bank and UK’s Xpress Money Services, have partnered to offer money transfer services between Kenya and the rest of the world in a move that will give Fidelity Bank’s customers flexibility and access to Xpress Money’s 170,000 agents spread in over 150 countries worldwide.
Mr. Sultan Khimji, Fidelity Bank executive director said in a statement that the deal will give the bank’s customers Xpress Money’s speed of transfer and convenient payout to a point very close to the beneficiary because of the huge agency network.
“One of the critical aspects of a money transfer agency that we were looking for was convenience the agency would offer our customers. Over and above this, Xpress Money’s commissions are the lowest in the market which is icing on the cake for our customers”, Mr. Khimji quipped.
Apart from convenience and lower commissions, Xpress Money is regulated by the UK’s Financial Services Authority (FSA) which ensures security and high operating standard through the provision of consistent service in terms of network safety and reliability.
Express Money’s business development manager responsible for the Common Market for East and Southern Markets (COMESA), Mr. M. V. Additya said: ”We operate on a simple and very effective model commonly known as the “Service Provider – Franchise” which means that Xpress Money undertakes the responsibility of appointing agents in countries where a remittance originates and countries in which such transactions terminate with an intention to facilitate ‘sourcing’ and ‘pay out’ of money transfer transactions in originating & terminating countries respectively. This ensures that we are relevant at both ends of the money transfer transaction.”
Xpress Money also offers cash-to-bank accounts and Cash-to- door delivery as product variants. Xpress send SMS’s to the remitter on receipt of the payment by the beneficiary. Xpress is also working on cash-to-card, cash-to-mobile and cash-to-ATM opportunities in the near future.
