Customers of Orange Money and Bank of Africa, in a number of African countries, will be able to transfer money directly between their two accounts within the next few months.

The France-headquartered company said Orange Money customers would be able to buy goods and pay utility bills, as well as purchase air-time credit, without going to the bank or shop.

The large network of licensed Orange Money distributors will supplement Bank of Africa’s some 450 branches, so increasing the number of places that customers of the two companies can withdraw cash.

The new service is already available in Madagascar (since August) and will be extended next to Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Senegal, Niger and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

“The partnership between Orange and Bank of Africa illustrates Orange’s ambition to offer its customers high-quality services that are both easily accessible and easy to use,” said Marc Rennard (pictured), senior EVP for Orange’s operations in Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

At a media roundtable hosted yesterday (16 September) in London, however, Rennard took the view that mobile money would be less about revenue generation and more about churn management.

“It’s a new business,” he said. “We hope it will be profitable one day, but mainly it’s something that increases the loyalty of the customer. Because when you have a customer who has many SIM cards but uses an Orange SIM card to manage financial transactions, he will continue to use your SIM card.”

Orange Money currently has more than 11 million customers in 14 countries in Africa and the Middle East.