Pan-African cross-border payments services provider MFS Africa has announced a partnership with Moroccan mobile money provider inwi money to roll out international digital money transfers and payments services to Morocco.

According to a statement released to the media, the move marks MFS Africa’s first significant partnership in North Africa, which is home to approximately 2.9 million migrants, and whose emigrants account for approximately 4.4% of the global migrant population.

The companies claim remittances in Morocco represent a significant source of money, with inbound transfers amounting to over 6% of GDP in the last decade or so, and the new partnership will provide inwi money with access to MFS Africa’s interconnected payments platform of over 200 million mobile wallets in Africa.

inwi money’s 500,000 clients will be able to easily make use of digital payments beyond their domestic market, receiving money from abroad. With the partnership, the person receiving the money receives an SMS notification of the transfer into his account when it is sent from abroad, and their inwi money balance immediately reflects the amount received.

Dare Okoudjou, CEO and founder of MFS Africa, said:: "Through our partnership with inwi money, MFS Africa is finally expanding its network in Morocco. Morocco plays a key role as a "connector" in Africa, due to its geographical positioning, its economic and cultural influence and its stated willingness to participate in the development of the continent. For several years now, it has welcomed an ever-increasing number of students and workers from other African countries for whom the transfer of money is essential to daily life. The partnership we are launching today with inwi money will simplify the lives of this community as well as the lives of millions of Moroccans who wish to receive money transfers from Moroccans resident abroad. Today marks an important step in our mission to borders matter less when it comes to digital payments.”

Nicolas Levi, CEO of inwi money, added: “The launch of this new service is a tangible realisation of our efforts to diversify payment methods in Morocco, to extend financial inclusion to the largest number of Moroccans, and to digitise cash transactions. inwi money clients can now receive money from their loved ones abroad, instantly and securely.”

Earlier this month MFS Africa announced a partnership with money transfer start-up PaySii to help facilitate remittances in Africa.

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.

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.