Eromosele Abiodun
Paga, a payment and financial services company, yesterday announced that it recently went into partnership with MoneyTrans, a leading Money Transfer company and TerraPay to launch cross-border remittances from Spain to mobile wallets in Nigeria.
Paga in a statement said Nigerians in Spain can now send money to any mobile phone number in Nigeria through its platform, by visiting the nearest MoneyTrans store.
“The recipient can withdraw money from more than 11,000 Paga agents across Nigeria or make card-less withdrawal from ATMs. The recipient can also use the money to pay bills, buy airtime or send the money to any other phone number or bank account in Nigeria, among other services, “it stated.
The company added that the mobile based cross-border remittance service has been launched in Spain and will be followed by successive launches in Belgium, France and Italy in the coming weeks.
Commenting, the Chief Operating Officer of MoneyTrans, Mr. Jeremy De Smet said, “We are glad to take another huge step in enabling mobile money services in Africa. TerraPay is well positioned to offer a strong solution building upon and leveraging a major technical infrastructure that has been in place for many years in Africa.”
Speaking on the partnership Co-founder Paga, Jay Alabraba, said, “We are happy to collaborate with TerraPay and MoneyTrans in enabling secure transfers between Spain and Nigeria, the first of several important remittance corridors we will be launching together. By combining Paga’s extensive reach with the proven capabilities of TerraPay and MoneyTrans in the international remittance space, we are bringing to market a seamless and easy-to-use facility for Nigerians at home and in the diaspora.”
On his part, Founder and CEO of TerraPay, Ambar Sur said, “Nigeria presents a wide array of opportunities for companies like TerraPay, as it is the biggest remittances receiver in Africa. This partnership with MoneyTrans and Paga will play a pivotal role in cross border remittances in Nigeria, helping to reduce fees, improve speed and provide convenience for users. Nigeria is ranked sixth among the top remittance-receiving countries in the world. In 2015, the World Bank pegged remittances received in Nigeria at $21 billion.”
MoneyTrans started its business operations in 1991 by offering retail foreign exchange services in Spain. Activities grew over the years and were expanded to international money transfer services in 2002.Today MoneyTrans is established in eight European countries as well as in Africa, with a wider international network encompassing over 145,000 locations in more than 90 countries.
