International electronic banking leader Visa International announced on Wednesday plans to launch cross-border mobile money payments platforms to ease banking in East Africa. The company said that the new services will be open to users of any mobile network and “with its extensive international network, will be a strong competitor to telecommunications' firms mobile money operations.” Visa country manager for East and Central Africa, Victor Ndlovu, said the platform is “in the final pilot testing stages and will be introduced in October.” It comes as Kenya and East African countries continue to push mobile money into their respective countries, hit hard by price wars last year and hope the new mobile money platforms will spur business in the region. “The platform will operate across borders and will bypass telecoms companies,” said Visa. The World Bank estimates that Africa receives some $40 billion in remittances annually from abroad. It estimates that Kenyans receive about KES 140 billion per year although the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) puts the figure at KES 76 billion for 2011. The move by Visa could increase this number exponentially through making it easier for users to transfer funds. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/coAps Tags: Kenya, Mobile Money, Telecom, Visa Section: East Africa, Tech
