By Yakubu LAAH InvestAdvocate
Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-Africa’s global lender, United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA) on Monday said it has partnered world money transfer firm, MoneyGram to launch ‘Naija Sends’ outbound money transfer from Nigeria to over 200 countries abroad.
The outbound money transfer services will enable Nigerians send money abroad through any UBA branch in Nigeria or Africa while the funds are received in dollar or the currency of the receiving country.
According to the lender with this service, Nigerians can now send funds in Naira to countries like the United Kingdom (UK) and United States of America (USA) from home and the beneficiary will receive same in pounds or dollars respectively.
‘’The outbound money transfer service allows Nigerians to send money in Naira to over 200 countries around the world by simply going into any UBA branch in Nigeria or in the 18 other African countries where UBA has operations outside Nigeria or through any other MoneyGram Agent Bank,’’ UBA said.
Phillips Oduoza, group managing director (GMD) of UBA at the launch held had a live demonstration of how the service will work by sending money from Nigeria to Ghana. He sent Naira, which was received in real time in Ghana Cedis by the CEO of UBA Ghana.
Oduoza said the new UBA and MoneyGram outbound money transfer service will boost trade and business between African countries as many Nigerians who do business across Africa, no longer have to move around with cash as they can easily transfer money to their business partners in other African countries or in China, Europe and America to pay for goods and services bought.
According to the UBA GMD, the new money transfer service which has been tagged ‘Naija Sends’ is yet another testimony to the innovative, customer-centric disposition of both UBA and MoneyGram.
“This service opens a new vista of opportunity for Nigerians to easily trade with other Africans and also trade with other parts of the world. It also offers a great platform to send money to loved ones abroad. As Africa’s global bank, we are proud to partner with MoneyGram to make this service available. It opens a whole new world of opportunities for our customers” Oduoza said.
Kemi Okusanya, regional manager, Anglophone West Africa, MoneyGram, said the launch of ‘Naija Sends’ has further deepened the brand’s reach and service in Nigeria.
“Over the last two decades MoneyGram has facilitated over 15 million transactions in Nigeria, enabling safe, convenient and reliable transfer of funds from the Nigeria Diaspora to their loved ones. As Africa’s largest economy, with over 10 million migrants, we are glad we are now able to also offer Nigerians the opportunity to send money abroad to their loved ones and for business transactions” Okusanya said.
