TerraPay, a London-based international payment network, announced an agreement with Nigeria-based UBA Group to launch a real-time money transfer service to 20 countries across the African continent.

The remittance service is currently live in five member countries of UBA Group's international financial services network, including Ghana, Cote d'ivoire, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone and Cameroon. 

The service will roll out to another 15 countries in UBA Group's network soon, officials said. 

"This partnership with UBA Group will play a pivotal role in cross border remittances across Africa, Americas and Europe," Ambar Sur, founder and CEO at TerraPay, said in a company release. "We are delighted to bring the convenience of instant cross border money transfer to any UBA account in 20 countries."

UBA plans to roll out the service to customers in Chad, Senegal, Uganda, Congo Brazzaville, Guinea Conakry, Kenya, Mali, Zambia, Congo DRC, Gabon, Mozambique, Tanzania and Benin Republic. 

"As Africa's global bank, we are delighted to open up a fresh opportunity for real-time money transfer with TerraPay," Sampson Aneke, group head, transaction and electronic banking at UBA Group, said in the release. "This is another huge step in improving access to financial services for our customers across the globe."