Accra:dLocal and Western Union have announced the expansion of their partnership in Africa to include remittance payouts, starting with a live payout corridor in Cameroon. This collaboration aims to enhance the remittance process by allowing recipients in African markets to receive money more efficiently through local payment methods.
According to Cameroon News Agency, this initiative addresses the challenges faced by remittance recipients in Cameroon, a market characterized by fragmented, wallet-based systems. The partnership will enable recipients to receive funds directly into supported local wallets via local payout partners, which operate under applicable regulatory frameworks such as mobile network operators or financial institutions.
Western Union's Regional Vice President for Africa, Mohamed Touhami El Ouazzani, emphasized the importance of reliability in money transfers, stating that extending the partnership with dLocal into payout services ensures the same level of reliability on the disbursement side. Agustin Botta, Head of EMEA at dLocal, highlighted the significance of solving both collections and payouts to provide a complete remittance solution.
The expansion is part of a broader effort to strengthen digital remittance corridors across emerging markets, with potential plans to extend this service to other African countries, including Nigeria. The initiative aligns with the growing expectation among remittance recipients for speed and reliability, as underscored by the World Bank's estimate that remittance flows into Sub-Saharan Africa reached approximately US$ 57 billion in 2024.