Moniepoint, Nigeria’s fintech giant, celebrated for powering one of Africa’s largest business banking networks, has introduced MonieWorld, a pioneering service aimed at revolutionizing diaspora financial services, starting with the UK–Nigeria remittance corridor.
Backed by a recent $120 million infusion from investors like Google and Visa, Moniepoint brings significant resources and credibility to its remittance ambitions.
This strategic investment cemented Moniepoint’s unicorn status and enabled integration with Visa Direct, unlocking efficient international payment rails for remittances and cross-border transactions.
The UK–Nigeria corridor, a vital artery for remittances, saw £2.7 billion flow from the UK to Nigeria through formal channels in 2021, making it one of Nigeria’s most significant remittance sources.
With MonieWorld, Nigerians in the UK can now send money home in seconds with no transaction fees and at competitive rates.” Tosin Eniolorunda stated.
Yet, this lucrative market is fiercely contested, with incumbents like LemFi, Send, NALA, Zepz, and Taptap Send dominating through polished user experiences, low fees, and years of brand loyalty.
For new immigrants, selecting a remittance service is often an early decision influenced by trusted word-of-mouth recommendations, posing a steep challenge for MonieWorld to break into established habits.
Despite this crowded fintech landscape, Eniolorunda sees untapped potential, arguing that the remittance experience still lacks consistency, transparency, and trust, gaps MonieWorld aims to fill.
Moniepoint CEO Eniolorunda identifies peer-to-peer transactions, where money moves informally through friends and family, as the real competition.
“With our product, it’s knowing that the platform you’re using is backed by the same technology that processes over a billion transactions each month, and moves over $22 billion reliably, with no excuses,” Eniolorunda remarked.
Currently, the service facilitates remittances solely to Nigeria, though Moniepoint plans to broaden its offerings and geographic scope over time.
To attract users, MonieWorld offers the market’s highest conversion rates and eliminates transaction fees.
Moniepoint’s earlier tactic of distributing free POS terminals to agents, a move that fueled its agency banking dominance, propelling it to process over a billion transactions monthly. The company now bets on replicating this success in the competitive remittance sector.
Operationally, it relies on a Nigerian international money transfer operator (IMTO) license through its subsidiary Global Wire, paired with a partnership between its UK subsidiary and PayrNet, a licensed electronic money institution (EMI).
Moniepoint is also nearing the acquisition of its own UK EMI license, a step that will streamline operations by removing external dependencies, potentially boosting transaction speed and reliability within its ecosystem.
For now, access to MonieWorld is restricted to UK residents who pass stringent checks for residency, creditworthiness, and identity verification.
MonieWorld generates revenue through FX conversion fees, with plans to diversify income streams as it expands into additional financial services for immigrants.
Eniolorunda envisions MonieWorld evolving beyond remittances into a full immigrant banking platform, potentially offering savings, investments, and credit tailored to the diaspora’s needs.
For Nigerians in the UK, MonieWorld promises instant transfers to support families, pay school fees, cover medical bills, fund businesses, and uplift communities back home, all with no fees and top-tier rates.
Success, however, will depend on MonieWorld delivering on its pledges of superior pricing, speed, and trust while persuading a diaspora community accustomed to existing options to switch.
As Moniepoint continues to innovate, MonieWorld positions itself as a formidable contender in the remittance fintech arena, bridging financial divides for Nigerians worldwide.
