The necessity for international money transfers has grown substantially for online transactions, remote jobs and e-commerce.
Money transfers to and from Africa are extremely challenging. The World Bank reports that regional money transfers can cost as much as 8.46% on average. Global fintech companies like Wise, WorldRemit, and Mercury frequently deactivate their services for African users due to the prevalence of internet scams and regulatory hurdles.
Many of these remittance processes are now more streamlined thanks to modern and innovative fintech solutions.
Transfy, Flutterwave, Wise, Chippercash, and other fintech companies make it easy to send and receive money across Africa without dealing with cumbersome procedures or paying inflated fees. An alternative to using foreign exchange transfers for international payments, these money transfer services are safer, quicker, and less expensive.
Read also: QorePay to launch payments landscape with fintech solutions in Nigeria
This article covers five fintechs that have identified this problem and created a solution.
LemFi
The African diaspora’s digital bank, LemFi (formerly Lemonade Finance), was established in 2020. Cochran and Olalere, the founders, are two seasoned techies who have worked for industry leaders like Uber, Flutterwave, and OPay. When a customer signs up for an account, they can choose between two currencies: their home currency and the currency of their country of origin.
Here, users can receive payments in foreign currency, convert them to their local currency, and then decide whether to keep the money in the app or send it to their bank. Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, and the Republic of Benin are among ten African countries that LemFi users in the United Kingdom and Canada can now send money to, according to a February announcement. The business boasts that more than 100,000 people use its website.
Payday
Payday is a neobank that started in 2021 and offers Nigerians and other Africans global accounts with USD, EUR, and GBP. The platform streamlines the process of receiving funds from anyone, anywhere in the world, for Africans residing in Africa. Payday allows users to send and receive 20 different currencies, including USD, GBP, EUR, and more.
This is especially helpful for Nigerian freelancers and remote workers in Rwanda. They can be paid and can withdraw their funds in the currency of their choice, just like those in the diaspora who work remotely for international organizations.
Transfy
Sending money to Africa through Transfy is a cheap option. You can send, receive, and exchange money across African countries and local currencies on this platform. It’s easy to use and very smooth.
Some of the features and benefits of using Transfy are listed below:
Transmit and receive funds from the following countries: Nigeria, South Africa, Cameroon, Rwanda, and Uganda.
Using Transfy’s multi-currency wallet, you can trade GHC, KES, XAF, RWF, NGN, UGX, ZAR, and other local African currencies.
Security measures to protect your funds and information include multi-factor authentication and encryption at the bank level.
Anti-fraud protection.
Storing a variety of African currencies allows you the flexibility to sell when you want.
Convenient bulk payment options for paying employees, freelancers, and expats all over Africa.
Any of the supported currencies can be used to pay freelancers, online store owners, and business partners.
Application programming interface (API) for developers that provides one-line coding payout options for software products.
Wise
Wise, formerly known as Transferwise, is an international financial technology solution that facilitates safe and easy international money transfers in a variety of currencies. Over 10 million people from 170+ countries use Wise, including organizations, immigrants, freelancers, and travellers.
The services offered by Wise are:
Reduced fees for sending money to more than 80 countries
Half of their transactions are processed immediately, with a maximum wait time of one hour.
Enhanced transaction security with two-factor authentication
For the convenience of payments, debit cards that are accepted internationally
Take advantage of low withdrawal and spending rates in more than 200 countries.
Keep, exchange, and invest in various currencies.
Use your real account information on the WISE platform to get paid from any location.
Connect to major eCommerce stores worldwide, pay bills and invoices overseas. Financial statements.
Chipper Cash
Chipper Cash is an innovative app that facilitates the transfer of funds across borders, making it easy to reach people in the diaspora and Africa. From the United Kingdom, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, the United States, Ghana, Uganda, and Rwanda, you can send and receive money on this platform.
Here is what Chipper Cash can do:
Convey funds quickly and easily with a variety of payment methods.
Data bundles and airtime recharge are available at discounted prices with cash-back incentives.
Online shopping and instant bill payments are made easy.
Gain incentives by referring your friends and family.