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Xoom announces aggressive entry into new African markets

Julian King, VP and General Manager at Xoom

Xoom, PayPal’s money transfer service, announced in December of 2020 that the company’s customers in the US, UK, Canada and Europe can now send secure and convenient money transfers directly to mobile wallets in key markets across Africa with a focus on the underbanked segment. Maisha254's Benson Kamau spoke to Julian King, Vice President and General Manager at Xoom, to find out what the firm has in store for the Kenyan market.


What does this entry into the Kenyan market look to achieve?

Mobile money services are a key tool to further the goal of financial inclusion which is instrumental in lifting the underserved population out of poverty—and for driving economic growth. We picked these initial set of countries as they have a high percentage of mobile money registered account holders. In Kenya, over 60 percent of adults have mobile money accounts. In 2021, we plan to introduce our mobile wallet to more countries across Africa.

Why did Xoom choose to enter the market after this long?

At Xoom, we have offered our service to select markets across Africa for over a decade now. This new service expands Xoom’s offerings in Africa as the current service already enables money transfers for cash pick-up, direct banks deposits and mobile reloads to 41 countries in Africa.

Are there any other partnerships lined up with fintech partners or will the focus be solely on Mobile Network Operators?

At Xoom, we work closely with partners across the financial ecosystem to help deliver on our mission of financial inclusion. We have over a hundred partners across the globe and they range from banks to fintech companies. In Africa, we partner with Ria, MFS Africa, Thunes and Upesi among others.

Our partnership with M-PESA transforms the mobile payments system in Kenya. Through our relationship, Kenyans can now seamlessly move money between their M-PESA and PayPal accounts, removing barriers that have prevented Kenyan consumers from fully participating in the global digital economy. 


PayPal is synonymous with online payments. Does this mean that you are now entering the mobile money transfer space?

We have offered our remittance service to select markets across Africa for over a decade now. This new service expands Xoom’s offerings in Africa as the current service already enables money transfers for cash pick-up, direct banks deposits and mobile reloads from North America and Europe to 41 countries in Africa. At Xoom, we offer secure, fast and convenient cross-border money transfers at competitive rates.

What is the cost implication on the local market in terms of value spend?

At PayPal and Xoom, our mission is to improve the financial health of people around the world. The cost of sending money through traditional channels to Africa is one of the most expensive in the world, with an average cost of 9.3 percent.  Xoom is helping to change this story by bringing down the cost significantly. With Xoom, the average cost of sending money to mobile wallets in select African markets ranges from 2-4% percent of the transaction. 

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