MTN Group and telecommunications company Bharti Airtel yesterday announced partnership to launch a cross-border remittance that seeks to lift hurdles of transferring money between West African countries; Cote d'Ivoire and Burkina Faso.

However, the process has been slowed down by high fees, high usage of informal channels and a lack of proximity to withdraw money between the countries.

"With a sizable community of Burkina Faso citizens working in Cote d'Ivoire and sending money back to their home country, the partnership will greatly enhance the Mobile Money service for customers in both countries," said Pieter Verkade, MTN Group Chief Commercial officer.

As of the end of December, MTN Mobile Money had 14.8 million registered users available in 14 countries. The service enables users perform local and international money transfers, service payments, airtime purchase and access a range of mobile financial products.