HomeSend, the international payment and money transfer hub, announced the expansion of its global framework agreement with Vodafone Group for M-Pesa, including the launch of remittance services into five new markets during 2016.

The two companies will work together to enable the real-time, mobile receipt of remittances by M-Pesa users in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Lesotho, Mozambique and Albania. In addition to Kenya, HomeSend has already launched connections for inbound remittances with M-Pesa in both Tanzania and Romania.

HomeSend said it also will provide a way to receive remittances by enabling MasterCard payments cards to be used. Several markets are expected to go live with this product throughout 2016, according to the announcement.

"M-Pesa makes money mobile, now increasingly across borders too," said Claire Alexandre, head of M-Pesa commercial and strategy at Vodafone. "We're delighted to offer our customers more choice to send and receive money from other countries and networks. HomeSend connects them to an extensive global network, offering an affordable, secure and convenient solution for inbound digital money transfers."