Safaricom outperforms Western Union

MANILA, Philippines - Kenyan mobile operator Safaricom has carried out more transactions using M-Pesa than Western Union has done across the world, the Daily Nation reported, citing figures from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The IMF’s October Outlook said M-Pesa now processes more transactions within Kenya than Western Union does globally, and provides mobile banking facilities to more than 70 percent of the country’s adult population. M-Pesa allows mobile phone subscribers to transmit as little as KES 50 in seconds. It was launched in March 2007 and now has over 14 million customers and about 28,000 agents across Kenya. The World Bank has since then picked former Safaricom chief executive officer Michael Joseph, to help replicate this model in developing countries, as a way of fighting poverty and extending the reach of financial services. In Kenya, the value of M-Pesa transactions from 2007 to March 2011 topped KES 828 billion or half of the country’s gross domestic product, and last years’ volume of business reached KES 47 billion.