Last year, Kenyans living abroad sent home a record high of $1.43 billion, a 10.68 percent increase over 2013 making remittances a major source of foreign exchange for east Africa’s biggest economy.
According to Kenya’s Central Bank, in 2014, Kenyans living in North America sent $677 million home in 2014, an increase of nine percent over 2013, and accounts for close to half of the total amount sent to Kenya. TRANSFAST aims to best serve Kenyans working abroad.
Global money transfer firm Transfast, has partnered with African Banking Corporation, Chase Bank Kenya and Dubai Bank Kenya Ltd for instant deposits and M-PESA tansfers.
The deal will allow users of the New York City-based firm to send money to Kenya via bank or M-PESA mobile wallet directly.
This means the firm aims to serve some of the users already relying on PayPal, Western Union, MoneyGram and BitPesa to send money instantly to their families ad friends in Kenya.
“Even if senders do not have bank accounts in the country they are sending from, TRANSFAST enables them to send direct to a bank account in Kenya, by bringing cash to an agent location,” says Samish Kumar, CEO of TRANSFAST. “TRANSFAST is committed to leveling the playing field and serving both banked and unbanked customers by offering the widest possible range of sending and receiving options.”
Transfast will see recipients in Kenya get instant deposits into their bank accounts or their M-PESA wallets. Other banks that aren’t working with TRANSFAST will recieve same-day deposits for their users. M-PESA has nearly 20 million users in Kenya and nearly 25 percent of the country’s gross national product flows through M-PESA according to the Economist.
“Our breakthrough technology is enabling our customers to send money to all banks in Kenya from a mobile device, online or in-person at an agent location,” says Roshan Polepalli, VP of TRANSFAST.com.