Kenya’s Family Bank Ltd. will collaborate with London fintech SimbaPay to launch a transfer service to China with WeChat.
The companies hope to serve an addressable market of 7 million Kenyan businesses, which will have the option to send funds to WeChat Pay from Family Bank’s PesaPap mobile banking service. Nonbank customers can use MPESA to access the transfers.
The Tencent Holdings Ltd.'s WeChat application icon displayed on an Apple Inc. iPhone 5s is reflected on a surface in an arranged photograph in Hong Kong, China, on Tuesday, March 4, 2014. Tencent, the best performer in Hong Kongs benchmark index since its 2004 listing, plans a share split to boost holdings by individuals after earnings missed estimates on higher costs for its WeChat app. Photographer: Brent Lewin/Bloomberg
Brent Lewin/Bloomberg
The collaboration is designed to make supply chains smoother. WeChat has more than 1 billion subscribers, and Kenyan traders frequently use WeChat social app to communicate with suppliers.
The integration adds a payment function to go with the social tools, and is another venue for WeChat to extend its growing international payments reach. Kenya has long been a hub of payments innovation, and was an early adopter of mobile money and blockchain to support digital transactions.
The Ohio-based bank reports a 10% expense reduction within a year of moving its contact center technology to Google Cloud through a partnership with UJET.
Medallion Financial CEO Andrew Murstein sees more growth on the horizon for the New York lender's fintech banking operation, which saw activity spike in the first half of the year.
Truist Foundation will fund a multiyear economic development initiative to revitalize business corridors in five Southeastern cities; First Horizon has hired Wells Fargo's Shaun McDougall to head consumer banking; Ally Financial commits over $150 million to support workforce development; and more in this week's banking news roundup.
