South African fintech partners with AFC Commercial Bank for remittances to Zimbabwe – The Zimbabwe Mail
Mama Money, a South African fintech offering cross-border money transfer and banking services, has partnered with AFC Commercial Bank, to allow Mama Money customers to easily send money to any AFC Commercial Bank cash collection branch in 45 locations across Zimbabwe .
It is estimated that the monthly remittances from South Africa to Zimbabwe vary between $30 and $60 million US dollars through both formal and informal channels and amount to over 10% of the country’s GDP according to the World Bank. But the cost of sending money to Zimbabwe can significantly reduce the impact of remittances, as these funds are mainly used for critical needs such as school fees, healthcare and housing.
In 2015, the average cost of sending money from South Africa was 14%. This is the same year that Mama Money launched with a fee of just 5%. Today, the average cost of sending money from South Africa is 7%, which is much closer to the worldwide average of 6%. Mama Money played a leading role in reducing the cost of remittances from South Africa when the company’s founders, Raphael Grojnowski and Matthieu Coquillon, started the business to positively impact the lives of underserved migrant communities in South Africa.
Mama Money facilitates money transfers to over 50 countries across Africa, Asia and Europe. Fintech’s key remittance markets include Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Ghana, Uganda, Nigeria, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. It also offers banking services and money transfers to South Africa from Europe and other regions.
Nicolas Vonthron, CEO, Mama Money: “We have made great strides in bringing down the cost of remittances, but there is still more we can do to support the Zimbabwean community in South Africa. We want to further reduce costs and offer a super reliable service. Our partnership with AFC Commercial Bank will help us achieve this and we are extremely excited to see the impact this will have on people who need an easier way to send money to Zimbabwe. Our goal when the company started was to bring down the cost of money transfers, we feel we have achieved this and now want to bring costs down even further as we expand and launch our services in more countries around the world.We feel we are making a lot of progress in bring the price down, there is much more we want to do to support the Zimbabwean community in South Africa.”
Ken Chitando, Managing Director, AFC Commercial Bank: “With our extensive network in Zimbabwe, it is very easy and convenient for beneficiaries to collect their money wherever they are in the country and we are continuously expanding our network.” We are sure that this relationship will facilitate all our customers when we expand our financial services across the country.”
Together, Mama Money and AFC Commercial Bank are improving access to critical financial services in underserved communities in both South Africa and Zimbabwe by making it easier, faster and cheaper to send and receive money.
Source: African Business Community
