![[Kenya] Safaricom eyes a larger market for international money transfers](MPESA.jpg)
[Kenya] Safaricom eyes a larger market for international money transfers
The decision by the Central Bank of Kenya to offer outward cash remittances to Safaricom has paid off with the telco reporting a 64 per cent growth on International money transfers in the year ended March.
Upon receiving the license in 2014, Safaricom launched MPESA services in Tanzania in early February, and proceeded to launch similar services in Rwanda in May of the same year.
Last year the telco entered the Uganda market.
The $131 million pay off from the international money transfer has now inspired Safaricom to eye a larger piece of the remittance market that was previously a preserve of international money transfer firms and banks.
Data from the CBK show that Kenyans living abroad repatriated $861.9 million in the six months to June.
North America, mainly the US and Canada, remains the leading source of remittance inflows to Kenya, bringing in 49.3 per cent of total diaspora cash, according to CBK data.
Safaricom has partnered with several international money transfer firms such as Western Union, Money Gram, BICS, Vodacom and MTN to allow cross border money transfers.
