Lyca Group and Wari are pooling their networks and services in order to reach new markets. A partnership in line with Wari’s international integration strategy, which is experiencing some turbulence in Senegal.
The digital financial services platform is blowing hot and cold. While she is said to be in difficulty in Senegal, dropped by her partners, Wari responds by announcing new features and new partnerships.
The Senegalese company has just teamed up with Lycaremit, a world leader in money transfer and a subsidiary of multinational Lyca Group, to strengthen their international networks and provide access to money transfer services around the world.
This partnership between Lycaremit and Wari aims to create an integrated ecosystem including financial services, operations and cross-border transactions.
Lycaremit customers will benefit from Wari’s platform which will allow them to credit all bank accounts and mobile wallets. For its part, the Senegalese company will strengthen its customers’ commitment to its platform by partnering with a brand of global renown.
A pioneer platform, Wari has transformed and developed access to financial services by offering simple and local payment solutions. Through its secure platform, the company has built a network of more than 700,000 authorized distributors around the world, and has made its services available through many channels. Indeed, Wari is available through the main internet applications, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, etc., as well as through USSD mobile applications. And of course has a network of points of sale.
For its part, the Lyca group is a British multinational whose vision is to connect populations. Lycaremit offers digital, cheaper and reliable money transfers to more than 50 countries around the world, and uses its services to improve the lives of its customers. Lycaremit’s services will be available online immediately and the company will launch a mobile app shortly.
Turbulence in Senegal!
“The Lyca Group was designed to connect people around the world. We are committed to helping as many people as possible to send money to friends and relatives across borders,” said Allirajah Subaskaran, chairman of the UK group. According to whom the partnership with Wari “gives him the opportunity to fulfill this commitment.”
For his part, the executive director of Wari, Kabirou Mbodje, considers that the “integration of our two platforms is consistent with the international ambitions” of his company. “We work with key players to provide our customers with a global ecosystem. This partnership will provide more options for expats supporting their families back in their respective home countries and confirms our goal of ensuring accessibility to financial and digital services to all.”
The partnership comes weeks after the company came under attack over the reliability of its networks in Senegal. There were rumors that Wari was at a standstill, on the verge of bankruptcy. Mistrust was fueled by Coris Bank’s decision to “let go” of its partnership, releasing its liability in the event of a dispute on the platform after December 22, 2020.
Wari wants to be reassuring and ensures that it has taken measures to restore the normal functioning of its network and thus allow users to regain the good quality of services in Senegal. The company has reportedly agreed on a mechanism with its partner banks to allow all of its sub-distributors to get paid as soon as possible, at their bank or in the Cofina network.
The company recognizes that in Senegal, “serious problems caused by third parties” have seriously disrupted the normal functioning of services offered to the public and to partner sub-agents. Regretting not to have been able to express itself in the media, including those which evoked “the Wari case”, the company thanks “all the users of its services, in Senegal and in the diaspora, for the messages of support and encouragement”.
