Online money remittance services ease transactions
A subscriber sends money through the mobile money platform. FILE photo
What you need to know:
Simplified. New platforms do not require agents as in the past.
Kampala. Ms Joy Kyakwi, a lawyer working in the UK has been able to send money back to Uganda easily using WorldRemit.
This instant way of sending and receiving money saves her relatives the burden of going to agents. Ms Kyakwi says the money remittance service also saves them time and resources because the money is sent from her account directly to the recipients’ phones in form of mobile money.
For Simon Aogon, a student at Uganda Management Institute, his brother sends him money from New York directly to his phone using remit.ug, a local money transfer service that has been operating since 2014.
Mobile money has become a game changer in the financial market and has revolutionised the way people send and receive money today.
WorldRemit partnered with MTN Uganda to help Ugandans outside the country remit money through mobile money.
The service will also be available to MTN customers in Rwanda and Zambia. The partnership allows MTN customers receive money directly on to their mobile phones.
According to Ms Alix Murphy, a senior mobile analyst at WorldRemit, the partnership with MTN is going to allow customers around the globe to send money instantly from their Worldremit app or website to MTN mobile money users in Uganda, Rwanda and Zambia.
Ms Murphy, while speaking to Daily Monitor earlier last week, also explained that the new solution will cut back on the cases of fraud as well as reduce costs involved in sending remittances to these countries.
She says before using the service, one has to open an account and provide information about themselves that will identify them to the service.
This security measure guards against fraud.
The partnership with MTN mobile money is to create convenience and also tap into the unbanked majority population. They are also expanding the services to Kenya and Rwanda this year.
According to Worldremit, this service, compared to the traditional money remittance service like Western Union and MoneyGram eliminates the need for an agent.
Transactions eased
With the online platforms, all one requires is internet and the costs are minimised. For example industry player, Remit.ug charges 4.9 per cent on the amount of money sent while worldRemit charges $5.99 (Shs2,0797) to send $100 (Shs347,200). This translates into 5.99 per cent charge to send $100 (Shs347,200).
According to Ms Murphy, WorldRemit registers an average of 400,000 money transfers every month to more than 125 destinations. Of this 16,000 money transfers were sent to Uganda alone in the month of December.
