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Moneygram and Astra Tech are working together amid growing demand for money transfer services in the Middle East.
The partnership will see Moneygram offer money transfer services via Astra’s UAE-based telecom Botim, the companies said in a news release on Wednesday (Jan. 25).
Abdallah Abu Sheikh, founder of Astra Tech and CEO of Botim, says that working with Moneygram will make sending money “as seamless as sending a text message.” “This marks our arrival as the first chat-based communication platform that allows people to send money home at the click of a button, while also demonstrating our ability to connect people not only socially but also financially. represents.”
Astra acquired Botim, a voice calling platform with 90 million registered users, earlier this month to create a super app for the Gulf region. It is an all-in-one mobile application that provides various services and allows users to perform various tasks within the app. , without having to rely on multiple different apps.
In this case, Botim allows users to use the app to pay bills, access government services, and order food and groceries. But what consumers wanted was a way to send money, the companies said.
According to the release, “After recently distributing a poll asking consumers which new services they are most interested in accessing through the BOTIM app, over 2 million responses in 48 hours indicated that international money transfers were their top priority. showed that.”
Botim’s popularity in the UAE is largely due to its large international population and the nationwide ban on calling from popular apps such as Skype and FaceTime. That makes the company one of the few apps that can be used for voice calls.
As PYMNTS pointed out in an interview last year with Amir Fardghassemi, founder and CEO of UAE-based financial superapp Jingle Pay, the entire region has a wealth of workers from other countries who send money back home. increase.
According to Fardghassemi, Gulf states including Bahrain, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait are home to expatriates sending money to other countries in the larger Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan (MENAP) regions.
“They support their families almost religiously. They work here. [and] They send money home regularly,” he said, adding that this meant it was important to be able to send money instantly and with a variety of payment methods to ease the process. rice field.
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