M-Pesa banking service may expand

SAFARICOM may expand its popular mobile-banking service M-Pesa into countries such as Nigeria and Angola. The sale of a 35 percent stake in the Nairobi-based company to Vodacom by parent Vodafone has enabled Safaricom to look to new markets, chief executive officer Bob Collymore said. That’s because Vodafone has an agreement with the South African government to expand in Africa only through Vodacom. “Before the end of the year, I would expect to have something to roll out,” Collymore said. Safaricom may seek to agree to platform-sharing deals with competitors such as MTN to expand M-Pesa rather than set up in new countries, he said. M-Pesa had more than 25 million customers in 11 countries at the end of March.