The Co-operative Bank of Kenya partnered with SimbaPay, the UK mobile remittance firm, to target the Kenyan diaspora.

A new service will enable the bank’s customers living internationally to send money to friends and family in Kenya via SimbaPay’s app. The service is initially available for the UK-Kenya payments corridor, with other countries to follow soon.

Maurice Matumo, director retail and business banking, Co-operative Bank, said: “We are very pleased with our partnership with SimbaPay, which enables Kenyans abroad to send money home without suffering the cost of making the cash transfer.”

Kenyans living internationally are a key market for the bank, which set up a Diaspora Banking department to serve them.

To send funds via SimbaPay, Kenyans living in the UK with a bank account, debit card or credit card download the SimbaPay app from the Apple AppStore or Google Play and then transfer money from phone, tablet or PC.

For ease of use, all 143 Co-op Bank branches in Kenya have been preloaded on to the SimbaPay platform which means customers do not have to remember branch codes. When they transfer funds using SimbaPay, customers must select the branch of the recipient account and then enter the amount. In cases where a branch name is not known, they can use SimbaPay’s M-Pesa PayBill service, launched this summer. The latter option requires only the Co-op Bank account number.