A major mobile banking service has increased its footprint further across Africa and the Middle East, with Mauritius and Jordan now able to access the service. Orange’s Orange Money is now present in 10 countries across Africa and the Middle East, with over 4 million customers in the region.
Orange Money was first launched in Côte d’Ivoire in December 2008, and has since been made available in Botswana, Cameroon, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Niger and Senegal. The operator is present in 22 countries across the region and is aiming to launch the service in all of these.
The service has spread rapidly, quadrupling its customer base in 18 months. In Madagascar, over a third of all customers have opened an account, while in Côte d’Ivoire daily transactions now exceed one billion CFA francs per day.
This exponential growth attests to the strong consumer appetite for mobile payment services in countries where the population has limited access to bank accounts but is widely equipped with mobile phones.
Mobile phone customers may open an Orange Money account for free whether or not they have a bank account. It allows customers to carry out simple banking operations and transactions in total security, including money transfers, financial services and payments.
These two last categories of service are growing quickly. Thanks to partnerships with local service providers, customers can pay some of their bills with their mobile phone. This is enables customers to benefit from the comfort and flexibility of a remote payment system and in many cases allows them to avoid a long and difficult journey.
Marc Rennard, Orange’s Executive Director for AMEA operations, stated that: “Orange Money plays an important role in driving growth in our activities in emerging markets, allowing us to contribute to the economic and social development of these countries, while improving our customers’ loyalty.”
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