Attijariwafa to conquer money transfer market in Central Africa

The Moroccan banking group, Attijariwafa Bank, has established a subsidiary of its money transfer company Wafacash in Douala, the Cameroonian economic capital September 14, 2015.

The subsidiary which will cover all of Central Africa was announced on October 5, 2015.

The company with a capital of 2 billion FCFA, Wafacash Central Africa has as Director General, Mehdi Khandid, who will be assisted by a DGA of Cameroonian nationality, in the person of Solange Dorothée Kotock Mpote épouse Yana Ntamack.

Among the directors of this new arrival on the market of the money transfer agency in Cameroon are Jamal Ahizoune, former DG of SCB Cameroon, the local subsidiary of Attijariwafa Bank which was recently recalled to the banking group headquarters in Casablanca.

Established in 1991, Wafacash, which handles the brand Western Union and Money Gram, is the current leader of the market of international transfers to Morocco. Since November 2012, Wafacash took the strategic decision to commercialize Inwi products, the 3rd operator of Morocco Telecom, whose subscribers can directly recharge their mobile at Wafacash agencies.

This company arrives on a money transfer market in Cameroon on which the world leaders such as Western Union and Money Gram are now facing competition from the leader of domestic transfers, the company with Cameroonian capital, Express Union, which also successfully launched in International transfers (in particular on Central Africa and Western countries) with very competitive rates.

However, in order to preserve its arrears in this increasingly competitive market, Wafacash Central Africa has a much broader scope. It deals with mere transfer of money to "the implementation and maintenance of ATMs" through to "the exercise of the activity of manual exchange; management, administration, implementation and control for personal account or for the account of third parties, from all computer and electronic means to automate and facilitate financial transactions, etc."