Five of the leading mobile wallet operators have agreed to establish the “Wallet Interoperability Council”, aiming to leverage TerraPay’s technology to facilitate interconnection and interoperability in cross-border transactions.
Together, these operators serve millions of wallet users, spanning regions such as Bangladesh, Colombia, Kenya, Senegal, Tanzania and Uganda. The founding members of this council include Airtel, bKash, MPESA, Nequi, and Sama Money.
The council aims to facilitate merchant payments, international remittances, and other use cases in cross-border transactions interconnecting their diverse platforms, advancing global wallet interoperability.
While wallets have predominantly served as local payment solutions, there is a clear demand for expansion into the global arena and TerraPay technology aim to facilitate this expansion.
“This initiative is a significant and timely development – and Safaricom is excited to be a part of the Wallet Interoperability Council,” said Esther Masese Waititu, Chief Financial Services Officer, Safaricom PLC, which owns MPESA.
“This collaborative effort with TerraPay, is pioneering interoperability for global wallet payments and will accelerate our efforts in driving more value for our users for international money movement.”
This open collaboration will bring together the expertise and resources to develop the conditions that ensures secure, efficient, and cost-effective cross-border wallet transactions for payments and money movement.
Multiple studies show that by 2028, there will be more than 7 billion wallets processing around $16 trillion in volume. Multi-rail wallets are gaining leadership and prominence in e-commerce and face to face environments with cross-border payments playing a pivotal role in this expansion.
This council is a first step to capitalise on these trends, offering needed interoperability and enhancing the user experience for millions of wallet users.
“TerraPay, connects today more than 100 digital wallets and we have been developing the technology to support interoperability since our inception, we recognize the immense potential of digital wallets in the global payment ecosystem,” said Ambar Sur, CEO of TerraPay.
“The formation of this council marks a significant milestone in our mission to provide innovative and inclusive financial solutions, collectively we will empower millions of individuals to participate in the global economy.
We have a huge respect and admiration for our founding partners, and we are committed to driving the next wave of wallet evolution, bringing the local user experience to the global scale.”
“This collaboration will bring the best of our capabilities together and leverage each other’s reach and coverage to enhance our own consumer’s experience, while keeping independency, and adding significant utility to our wallet consumers for cross border merchant payments,” commented Ali Ahmmed, Chief Commercial Officer at bKash.
We believe that all participants will win with this council; however, our wallet consumers would be the real winner.”
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