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March 7, 2016
Millicom and TransferTo partner on Tigo Money to accelerate Financial Inclusion
Today, Millicom, the emerging markets
telecommunications business, announces a strategic partnership with TransferTo,
a leading cross-border mobile payments network. The partnership will enable
Millicom to more rapidly scale up its Tigo Money brand which is Latin America’s
largest mobile financial services operation.
Tigo Money today allows millions of customers to send and receive money domestically,
and receive money internationally. Customers can also pay bills, use P2P services, use self-top ups, and make merchant
payments. All these services are available in real-time, securely and
conveniently via Tigo Money Mobile wallets.
Accessing Tigo Money services is easy, either by using the Mobile Money
app on a smartphone or by the Tigo Money USSD service.
The motivation for this strategic
alliance between Millicom and TransferTo is strengthen Tigo Money’s market
leadership as the number one Mobile Money cross-border international remittance
player, within Tigo Money markets in LatAm. This will accelerate opportunities for customers to access
additional financial services, supporting financial inclusion in the region. Mobile Money provides a unique solution for those who do not have
access to the traditional financial system, enabling these “unbanked” customers
to manage their own bill payments, self top-ups, P2P domestic transfer and
merchant payments directly from their phone.
E- Money is administered in real time,
meaning consumers access, pay and receive transfers directly within their Tigo
Mobile Money accounts. There are two ways to receive international
remittances into Tigo Money; the first option requires the sender to provide
the receivers phone number (which operates like the account number) where the
transaction will be directly deposited. The second option requires the sender to provide the receivers
transaction code this transaction code is entered into the receivers Tigo
wallet in order to download it. Tigo Money
provides high levels of security standards to its users that require input of
their secure PIN Code to confirm transactions.
The strategic partnership
spans all Tigo’s markets in Central and South America: El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Honduras, Bolivia,
Colombia and Paraguay, where Tigo Money has over 4 million mobile money wallets
users and the company works with over 11,000 Mobile Money agents.
Tigo and TransferTo have worked together
previously to enable airtime transfers to Tigo’s African and Latin American
territories. Now, with TransferTo’s Mobile Money platform, Tigo can accelerate the roll
out of successful Mobile Money transfers to even more customers across its
markets.
TransferTo’s Mobile Money platform provides a
dedicated, scalable and fully compliant solution for financial institutions to
connect with millions of Mobile Money accounts worldwide via a single
connection. Regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK as an
Authorized Payment Institution, TransferTo provides its partners with assured
compliance for all relevant regulatory standards.
Eric Barbier, CEO of TransferTo, comments: “We are excited to be working with Tigo to
help give their customers access to fast and secure Mobile Money services. The
TransferTo Mobile Money platform will enable Tigo customers in multiple
markets worldwide to have more control over how, when, and where they access
funds via mobile.”
Ronald Alvarenga at Tigo, said: “This
partnership with TransferTo will allow Tigo Money to accelerate International
remittances business into our digital wallets, by connecting more and more
remittance partners around the world, in less time and offering a reliable,
fast and secure way for customers to receive their money. We aim to enable our
customers to reduce their dependency on cash, increase their access to
financial products and services whilst supporting Tigo’s expansion of its
digital financial ecosystem.“
– ENDS –
About TransferTo
TransferTo helps businesses offer mobile
money, goods and services, and airtime top-ups around the world in real time.
Our global airtime and mobile money platform provides an essential combination of
services and technology to leading mobile telecommunication companies and money
transfer operators, including Vodafone, Orange, Sprint, Western Union, PayPal
and Xoom. Thousands of companies in over 100 countries
depend on TransferTo to provide mobile financial transactions to their
customers without the need for a bank account. TransferTo’s clients are
companies whose consumer base consists largely of foreign workers connecting
with family and friends back home. Founded in 2005, TransferTo currently links
+4.5B mobile users across more than 400 mobile operators. Its investors include
Ingenico.
For more information, please visit: https://www.transfer-to.com/
About Millicom / Tigo
Tigo is the
principle commercial brand of Millicom, the telecommunications and media
company founded in 1990 that is listed on NASDAQ OMX Stockholm and is uniquely
focused on 14 emerging and frontier markets. Tigo operates where
there is fast GDP growth, a high proportion of young people and huge
opportunities for the adoption of what we call the digital lifestyle. Tigo’s
eight Latin American markets account for 80% of Millicom’s revenues. These are Colombia, Paraguay,
Bolivia, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Costa Rica and Honduras. Through Tigo, Millicom
sets the pace when it comes to providing innovative and customer-centric
digital lifestyle services that create greater shareholder value in challenging
conditions. These include mobile
money services, a fast growing business solutions hub, as well as market
leading platforms for digital entertainment and music streaming. Worldwide, the Tigo
brand provides mobile services to more than 60 million customers, passes seven
million homes in cable, and is a global leader in mobile financial services
which enable financial inclusion for more than ten million active users.
About TIGO Mobile Financial Services
Tigo is one of the global leaders in mobile
financial services and its online money transfer platform offers a convenient,
safe, fast and cost-efficient way for customers abroad to send funds directly
to Tigo m-wallets or to bank accounts. Tigo Money LATAM has 4 million active Mobile
Money users and over 11,000 Mobile Money agents.
