CAPE TOWN – Leading next-generation financial services platform Mukuru has announced a transformative instant transfer product that moves money between South Africa and the UK in both directions, and from South Africa to any European Union country, instantaneously.
The fintech, which operates in more than 50 countries with over 450 remittance corridors and more than 14-million+ users, says the product was developed as a result of strong demand from the massive Southern African diaspora in the UK. The new instant transfer product will appeal to the existing customer base, as well as upwardly mobile and banked consumers who are globally connected but are seeking a simpler and quicker way to transfer money internationally.
Mukuru CEO, Andy Jury, says the business set out to build a truly instantaneous solution. “The key point of differentiation is that it genuinely is almost immediate. There’s no money lingering in the complicated payment ecosystem for 48 or 72 hours. Excluding the competitive fees, you could send money to a UK bank account and then back to South Africa in less than a minute,” he says.
Jury explains that the solution is designed for transferring “discretionary allowance”, such as sending money quickly to a family member. “It was important to the team to come up with a solution that is simple to use,” he explains.
“Our existing customers already use WhatsApp and so being able to transfer money internationally using WhatsApp is an important characteristic of the solution. In addition to this, using the Mukuru App for these transfers offers mobile and on-the-move users a host of benefits, such as ease of use, as well as virtual verifications within the App.
“If you compare it to the fees of major banks or fintechs it is well-priced, but the real differentiator is that it happens in real time, is frictionless and the user knows where the money is. There is no needless waiting.”
Naturally, the complexity of the system and technology that enables instant transfers into a UK bank account if transferring from South Africa, and into a Mukuru wallet or local bank account in South Africa if transferring from the UK, is “next level”, according to Jury. Being bi-directional and frictionless, the solution has been described as transformative and an important evolution in the money transfer industry.
