Whish Money and Mastercard address Lebanese remittance market

Details: Vaughan O'Grady; Category: Mobile Finance; 25 August 2025; 6262 views

Whish Money, a Lebanese fintech company, has collaborated with payments giant Mastercard to enable inbound and outbound remittance flows for consumers in Lebanon.

With the collaboration, the partners say, Whish Money users in Lebanon will be able to start sending money cost-effectively through the Whish Money mobile application to more than 50 countries in near real time.

Depending on the receive market, senders can choose how beneficiaries receive the funds – into their bank accounts or their mobile wallets or by cash. Lebanese senders now also have the option of using their cards to fund their Whish Money wallet, in addition to using cash. This is said to be Mastercard’s first collaboration with a mobile wallet in Lebanon to facilitate remittances.

According to estimates by the World Bank, Lebanon was the third country in the MENA region in terms of the absolute size of remittance inflows in 2022 with an estimate of US$6.4 billion, only trailing Egypt (US$28.3 billion) and Morocco (US$11.2 billion).

Mastercard Move, Mastercard’s portfolio of money movement solutions, enables people and organisations to move money quickly and safely, both domestically and internationally. The portfolio’s reach spans 200 markets and over 150 currencies, with access to more than 95% of the world’s banked population.

The partnership brings benefits to both partners in the agreeement, as well as consumers, as Onur Kursun, Executive Vice President, Commercial and New Payment Flows, EEMEA, Mastercard, explains. “Our collaboration will give Whish Money the reach, transparency and speed needed to scale its cross-border business and address consumer demand for sending and receiving funds internationally,” he says.

He continues: “Meanwhile, it will enable us to expand our payment network and introduce market firsts for inbound and outbound money transfers in Lebanon.”