Global cross-border payment infrastructure company Thunes and Rawbank, the leading bank in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), today announced a partnership to facilitate cross-border transaction flows between the DRC and the rest of the world through illicocash. By partnering with Thunes, Rawbank now becomes the first financial institution in the DRC to enable outbound and inbound cross-border mobile money transfers via its illicocash mobile wallet. 

"Given the DRC's heavily underbanked population and high mobile penetration rate, this new service is a crucial development," said Rawbank Fintech Director Karim Nouri. "High fees, slow speeds and unreliability often plague existing cross-border mobile money transfer methods in the DRC. Now, a family in Kinshasa will be able to easily send funds in real-time to their child studying overseas through the illicocash mobile wallet, and the student can receive his funds instantly." 

The integration with illicocash also enables Thunes' network partners to pay seamlessly into the DRC, thus adding a new direct connection to a previously hard-to-reach market. Customers of Thunes' network partners worldwide can now move money instantly and securely to their beneficiaries in the DRC via the illicocash mobile wallet, with upfront transparency on cost and confirmation of arrival.

"Being the first institution to enable inbound and outbound mobile transactions through illicocash is an important milestone for us," Nouri said. "Many Congolese living, working or studying overseas rely on funds from loved ones back home, and we are delighted that Thunes is powering this service for us. We look forward to expanding our solutions through Thunes' global network and connecting our users to the world."

Additionally, Rawbank plans to launch new services for its corporate customers to facilitate international business payments later in the year by leveraging Thunes' network. The value of imports of goods and services in the DRC has doubled in the past 10 years, according to the World Bank; improving the payment of trade invoices is a key push for Rawbank.

"Our partnership with Rawbank powers the first mobile wallet in the DRC to send and receive funds globally, marking a significant milestone for beneficiaries who rely on such money transfer services to finance their daily lives. We are pleased to take yet another step towards our long-term objective of improving access to the world's fastest-growing economies," said Sandra Yao, Thunes Senior Vice President (Africa).