<span>Finablr, the UAE payments and foreign exchange holding company, has partnered with Airtel Africa, a telecoms service provider with more than 100 million subscribers, the companies said.</span> <span>“We are delighted to partner with Airtel Africa, and join hands to deliver affordable and reliable payments services to customers,” Promoth Manghat, group chief executive of Finablr, said on Tuesday.</span> <span>“Together, building on the strength of our technology platform, we are delivering FinTech at scale thereby empowering consumers and businesses across the continent.”</span> <span>Airtel Africa’s mobile money operations will be integrated with Finablr’s technology platform and global network to enable inbound and outbound cross-border payments. The partnership will allow customers to send money from over 100 countries into Airtel Money mobile wallets across Africa.</span> <span>The services will be rolled out market-by-market in phases, with the first country expected to go live by the end of this year.</span> <span>“We are excited that Airtel Money will collaborate with Finablr to introduce global payments services.</span> <span>This will enable customers to make cross-border remittances, pay bills, make purchases and withdraw cash from our outlets and agents across the continent,” said Raghunath Mandava, chief executive of Airtel Africa, which has a presence in 14 countries.</span> <span>Inbound remittances to Sub-Saharan Africa grew nearly 10 per cent to reach $46 billion (Dh168.9bn) in 2018, according to the World Bank. The region ranks among the most expensive remittance corridors globally with an average money transfer cost of 9.4 per cent.</span> <span>Finablr, whose brands include Travelex, UAE Exchange and Xpress Money, listed on the London Stock Exchange in May.</span> <span>The initial public offering, which attracted institutional investors including BlackRock, Columbia Threadneedle Investments and Norges Bank, valued the company at $1.6 billion.</span> <span>At the FinTech Abu Dhabi conference on Tuesday, Mr Manghat said the company has already done the “heavy lifting” in terms of global licensing and developing infrastructure, serving 170 countries.</span> <span>“We have seen a huge amount of partnership opportunities emerging” as a result, he said.</span>