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Equity links up with Essar for diaspora cash transfer

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Essar Telecom Country Manager Atul Chaturvedi (left) exchange documents with Equity Bank CEO James Mwangi shortly after signing partnership on December 02,2010. William Oeri

Equity Bank has signed a deal with mobile phone firm Essar allowing its account holders to receive international remittances through the yuCash transfer system.

It is banking on an international money transfer infrastructure provider Obopay which also powers the yuCash system to tap into the market as it widens its net on mobile banking.

New deal

Although yuCash is a domestic money transfer service, the new deal will allow the remittance of money from one bank account to Equity account holders who can access it through the yuCash if they are registered.

The latest partnership is the third following a similar deal with Orange which launched Orange Money and previous partnerships with the leading mobile service provider Safaricom.

Equity’s Chief Executive Officer James Mwangi said unlike the previous partnerships it has signed with other mobile operators , the deal with Essar offers Kenyans in the diaspora opportunity to remit money into Equity account from their banks—courtesy of the interface link provided by Obopay.

“Money can be remitted from America or India into Equity account and withdrawn through the yuCash,” said Mr Mwangi.

Statistics from Central Bank of Kenya indicate that remittance flows in September, 2010, increased by 12.6 per cent to $ 58.6 million, from $ 52 million in August 2010 and were 17.1 percent above the cumulative 12 months average of $ 50 million a month.

The source markets for remittances have on average maintained the same shares, with North America contributing 53 per cent and Europe 26 per cent of total remittances to Kenya in September, 2010, the survey shows.

Essar Telecoms managing director Atul Chaturvedi said yuCash is a domestic money transfer services, but that Equity joint account holders can transfer money from abroad to their accounts provided it is within the framework of the Government of Kenya and the Central Bank of Kenya.

“Yucash is only a domestic money transfer services but with the Equity partnership we can facilitate the access of the money( in Kenya Shillings) that have been remitted to an Equity account holder who is also a yuCash subscriber. “Only yuCash gives you five channels through which you can transact, including the internet (WAP), SMS, Voice USSD as well as the now commonly used SIM tool kit,” said Mr Chaturvedi.

This means that even one travels abroad, he can still access his yuCash account and take care of emergencies at home at the same competitive local rates.

The new service will also enable yu subscribers and either Safaricom’s, Orange or Airtel subscribers registered on yuCash to transfer their funds to their Equity Bank accounts directly.

“Designed as what is technically known as mapped account, yuCash customers will alongside basic money transfer can now send and receive cash across the various local mobile network operators,” said Mr Mwangi.

Money transfer and data services is emerging as the next frontier for revenues generation in the telecommunications sector while in the banking industry, mobile banking is seen to replace the brick and mortar branches and a means of bridging the gap between the banked and unbanked.

Out of 21 million subscribers in Kenya, it is estimated that close to 16 million are on money transfer services.

Safaricom, Orange and Yu have a combined subscriber base of more than 16 million.

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