Kenya’s Family Bank Ltd. will collaborate with London fintech SimbaPay to launch a transfer service to China with WeChat.
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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.
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