Airtel Africa partners Ecobank to improve mobile financial services

&NewLine;<p>Airtel Africa&comma;&NewLine;a leading global telecommunications services provider with operations in 14 countries across Africa and&NewLine;Ecobank&nbsp&semi;Transnational Incorporated&comma;&NewLine;the parent company of Ecobank&comma; a&NewLine;leading pan-African banking group operating in 33 countries&comma; have signed a&NewLine;partnership which will allows millions of Airtel Money and Ecobank customers&NewLine;across Africa to improve their access to mobile financial services and carry&NewLine;out a variety of mobile transactions&period;<br>&NewLine;In a press statement &nbsp&semi;by Apo Group&comma; made available to OpenLife&comma; the partnership&comma; which is subject to&NewLine;regulatory approval in each market&comma; will enable Airtel Money customers&comma; through&NewLine;Ecobank’s digital financial services ecosystem&comma; make online deposits and&NewLine;withdrawals&comma; effect real time domestic and international money transfers&comma; make&NewLine;in-store merchant payments&comma; and access loans and savings products amongst&NewLine;others&period;<br>&NewLine;The partnership will also allow Ecobank corporate account holders to make bulk&NewLine;disbursements&comma; such as payroll payments&comma; directly into Airtel Money customer&NewLine;wallets&period; Additionally&comma; Ecobank will be able to sponsor Airtel Money to issue&NewLine;both virtual and physical debit and pre-paid cards to Airtel Money customers&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Raghunath Mandava&comma; CEO for Airtel Africa&comma; said&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;This&NewLine;partnership is a further demonstration of Airtel Africa’s commitment to provide&NewLine;affordable&comma; simple and innovative solutions for our consumers across Africa&period; We&NewLine;will continue to offer locally relevant M-Commerce solutions with partners like&NewLine;Ecobank in order to enhance the daily lives of our customers&period;”<br>&NewLine;Ecobank Group CEO&comma; Ade Ayeyemi&comma; commented&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We believe that financial inclusion&NewLine;can ultimately contribute to economic development&comma; collaborating with major&NewLine;telecommunications providers in Africa is therefore a key strategic driver&NewLine;towards closing the gap between the banked and the underbanked&period; Hence this&NewLine;partnership with Airtel Africa which makes Ecobank financial services available&NewLine;to any Airtel line registered on Airtel Money&comma; in our markets where regulatory&NewLine;approvals are in place&period; This potential extensive reach will further provide&NewLine;convenience to customers&comma; intra-country and particularly for cross-border&NewLine;transactions and remittances across Africa&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;