Telecom Lead Africa: MoneyGram and First National Bank (FNB) of South Africa have launched their first mobile money transfer service in Africa.

The new mobile banking service enables FNB customers throughout South Africa provinces to send and receive international money transfers using their mobile devices.

The service features data encryption system that protects account holder information. Transactions sent from a mobile device are available for collection within 10 minutes, subject to an agent’s hours of operation and local laws and regulations.

World Bank says South Africa is the third largest recipient of African migrants in the world, estimated at 1.8 million people. Close to 900,000 South Africans living abroad send money back to their families. Almost 50 percent of all remittance users remit funds once a month.

Carl Scheible, MoneyGram executive vice president for Africa and Europe, said: “We are committed to using mobile technology that complements and augments our traditional agent locations, both in South Africa and other parts of the world.”

Last year, MoneyGram announced an agreement with First National Bank that significantly increased MoneyGram’s agent network in South Africa.

Adding FNB to its agent network means customers have an additional nearly 1,000 MoneyGram money transfer locations across South Africa from which to send and receive money.

Jacques Celliers, chief executive officer of business banking at FNB, said: “Our relationship with MoneyGram has enhanced the customer experience by making it easier and more affordable for FNB customers in both customer facing and electronic channels to send money abroad.”

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