New strategic partnership allows WorldRemit customers in over 50 countries to send money directly from their phones to over 100,000 Gulf African Bank customers
Nairobi and London, 27 March 2019: Leading digital money transfer company WorldRemit has joined forces with Gulf African Bank (GAB), Kenya’s Premier Shari’ah compliant bank, to facilitate diaspora remittances.
Kenyans living in over 50 countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada, can now send money directly from their phones to 100,000 Gulf African Bank accounts and 18 cash pick-up locations at the bank’s branches nationwide.
WorldRemit saves customers time and money, enabling them to send vital funds home in a few taps from their phones without having to visit a brick and mortar agent. Customers sending to Kenya can choose from a variety of convenient payout options including bank transfer, cash pickup, mobile money and airtime top-up.
Gulf African Bank offers innovative financial solutions that address the needs of individuals and businesses as well as customers looking for fair, safe, and ethical banking practices based on Shari’ah principles. The Bank recently embarked on a digitisation agenda that will expand digital service offerings for customers, such as the introduction of paperless banking in all branches. Furthermore, it continuously taps into the intensity of globalization to enable their customers in the diaspora, bank and invest back home easily from all over the globe.
With a diaspora of half a million living in the US, UK and France, remittances play an increasingly important role in Kenya’s economy and are the country’s largest source of foreign exchange. The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) estimates that remittances hit an all-time high of Sh197.12 billion ($1.95 billion) in 2017 – a 13 percent growth on the previous year.
Sharon Kinyanjui, Head of East and Central Africa at WorldRemit commented: “WorldRemit is delighted to partner with key financial institutions like Gulf African Bank to make it faster, simpler, and cheaper to receive money from around the world. GAB and WorldRemit share a commitment to trust and transparency, and our new service will offer convenience and choice to Kenyans in the diaspora.
“We make sending money home as easy as sending an SMS. Over 90% of WorldRemit transactions are authorised within 10 minutes and customers can track their money’s journey in real-time using our ‘Track your Transfer’ function.”
Abadalla Abdulkhalik, Gulf African Bank’s Managing Director said: “To effectively serve our customers in this fast paced, modern business environment, Gulf African Bank has continued to keep pace with digital developments in order to unlock the full investment potential of our diaspora customers by partnering with like-minded partners like WorldRemit. We are offering our customers a safe, fast, secure and cost effective channel that will enable all our customers in the diaspora seamlessly transfer funds to benefit their dependants and investments in Kenya anytime.
WorldRemit customers complete over 1.3 million transfers every month from over 50 countries to over 145 destinations.
