A new partnership between Lion International Bank and a Singapore-based cross-border payment provider, Thunes, has enabled remittance transfers through the Bank's Anbessa HelloCash Wallet, a mobile money platform. The launch of this new service will also include a cash pick-up service soon. This will enable the receiver of a transfer to receive cash from an agent of the money transfer provider, Thunes. This is in addition to Anbessa HelloCash Wallet. Currently, Lion has more than 1,500 agents across the country where recipients access their transfers over the weekends as well as in the evenings. The new service is currently available throughout the 264 branches of the Bank. Thunes, a four-year-old fintech firm, provides platforms for real-time transactions and has a presence in more than 100 countries. Lion Bank was established in 2006 and had a gross profit of 695.5 million Br in the last fiscal year. About 35pc of the country's population has access to financial services, according to a 2019 World Bank report.