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 Hub, Tigo can accelerate the roll out of successful Mobile Money transfers to even more customers across its markets.

TransferTo’s Mobile Money Hub 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 Remittance Hub 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.”