Africa to benefit from added money transfer options following EPG boost

Emerging markets across Africa look set to benefit from a number a new payments solutions that have been integrated by the Euro Payments Group (EPG).

This follows on from the EPG securing global partnerships which in turn enabled the repatriation, or settlement of funds processed in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Ghana to a European bank account. Since then, the EPG has produced a list of new payment methods for the six African countries.

As a result of this, customers in South Africa will now be able to redeem Discovery Miles – a ‘niche’ loyalty payment to support the core bank card (Visa, Mastercard and Amex) and will benefit from Instant Bank Transfer (Ozow – formerly known as i-Pay) methods.

In Kenya customers will be given access to the same core card payments alongside mobile-focused money transfer solutions mPesa, Equitel and Airtel. Earlier this summer, Kenya saw major operators lose their digital payment processing channels following a tax dispute with the country’s revenue collection agency.

Similarly to Kenya, Uganda has also endured a turbulent time for sports betting following the February ban placed on the issuing of new licenses by president Yoweri Museveni. With this being said, Uganda is now set to become one of three countries where EPG clients will offer Airtel, Tigo Cash, MTN Mobile Money and Vodafone payment types – Rwanda and Ghana will also benefit from the four payment methods. 

Lastly, in regards to Nigeria, the EPG is set to mix bank card payments (Visa, Mastercard and Verve) in by adding the account number-based solution developed by Nigeria’s inter-bank settlement system (NIBSS). Having only started with two commercial banks in 2011, the NIBSS Instant Payments service has expanded and grown to now include all commercial banks, Micro-Finance banks , and Mobile Money Operators.

Tony Joeglal, VP of Global Business Development & Marketing at EPG, concluded: “Working with leading local partners is fundamental for us to facilitate domestic payment processing including fund repatriation whilst expanding with largely European oriented merchants into the African market.”