Pan-African cross-border payments services provider MFS Africa has announced its partnership with global money transfer start-up PaySii to help facilitate remittances in Africa.

In a statement the companies explain that the partnership will enable PaySii to extend its services to customers who want to send money to mobile wallets in Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda, Cameroon, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Côte d'Ivoire, Zambia, Madagascar, Malawi, Congo, Niger and Benin.

MFS Africa claims to connect over 200 million mobile wallets across 35 African countries.

The company says it works in close partnership with players across the ecosystem to bring simple and secure mobile financial services to customers without formal bank accounts.

PaySii is a digital remittance platform known for its ultra-competitive rates and instant mobile-to-mobile money transfers.

According to the World Bank, at an average cost of 9% in fees, Africa is the most expensive region to send money to in the world. Yet the remittances market has huge promise - in 2018, US$ 40 billion was sent to sub-Saharan Africa.

PaySii aims to reduce the costs associated with these transfers by making remittances easier - helping migrant communities around the globe send money to their loved ones with ease.

Julie Neogy, Chief Commercial Officer at MFS Africa, commented on the partnership: "We are excited to partner with PaySii, who offer fast, secure and transparently priced money transfer services to the continent and beyond. Through this partnership, we are not only connecting our network and Africa to the wider world, but we also further our mission to lower the cost of digital payments."

Adil Dirie, Regional Manager at PaySii, said: “We are delighted to be partnering with MFS Africa, which has developed one of the largest footprints in the continent with access to all the major financial institutions. This partnership will help us serve our customers even further afield.”

The partnership will facilitate the money transfers into mobile wallets operated by the likes of MTN, Airtel, Paga, Vodafone and Orange, which are operating in the new countries being served by PaySii.

This latest partnership follows another strategic alliance announced by MFS Africa in August. The company released detail s of its partnership with MoneyGram, to extend the service in Africa.

In June this year MFS Africa acquired Beyonic, a digital payments management provider of business services for SMEs, Fintechs, and social impact entities across Africa.

The companies said the deal will provide the growing micro, small, and medium enterprise segment across Africa with the ability to manage digital transactions with individuals and businesses around the world.