One of the leading mobile network in Tanzania – Tigo – together with seventeen Tanzanian banks have introduced a new service that allows money transfer from bank accounts to Tigo Pesa, its Mobile Money Transfer Service, through mobile phones.
Tigo customers can now deposit or withdraw money from their bank account being anywhere in the country, as well as pay any Tigo Merchant directly, provided there is a sign “Lipa Hapa Kwa Tigo Pesa”.
According to Tigo’s Head of Financial Services Andrew Hodgson, this allows Tigo customers to have a faster and safer way of accessing their money without the need to travel with large amounts of cash.
The seventeen Tanzanian banks that partnered with Tigo for this service are NMB, Exim, DCB, Standard Chartered, Akibas Commercial Bank, TPB, BoA, Amana, CRDB, Advance Bank, Uchumi Commercial Bank, Maendeleo, Mufindi Community Bank, Mbinga Community Bank, Mwanga Community Bank, Njombe Community Bank, and TWB, together comprise over 80% of the banking market.
Tigo was established in Tanzania in 1994, and currently has over 6million subscribers, with about 3 million of them having a Tigo Pesa money account.
The first partnership with regards to bank-to-Tigo-account transfers was established with NMB earlier in February this year.
