Monzo is making its biggest play yet for the African diaspora.
The UK digital bank, which serves more than 15 million customers, has launched direct money transfers to Nigeria, allowing users to send pounds to Nigerian bank accounts without leaving the Monzo app. The service is powered by Wise, whose approval-in-principle as an International Money Transfer Operator (IMTO) from the Central Bank of Nigeria earlier this year has opened the door for more international payment providers to serve the market.
To encourage adoption, the bank is waiving fees on customers’ first naira transfer until 22 August.
A multi-billion-dollar opportunity
Nigeria remains one of the largest recipients of diaspora remittances globally, receiving more than $20 billion in 2024. The UK consistently ranks among the country’s top three remittance source markets, underlining the size and importance of the Nigerian diaspora.
For years, that market has been dominated by remittance providers and African fintechs such as LemFi and Africhange, which built their businesses around faster transfers, competitive exchange rates and products tailored to immigrant communities.
Monzo is taking a different approach as it is embedding remittances into a banking platform millions already use every day. The bet is that convenience—not necessarily the lowest price—will be enough to keep customers within its ecosystem.
The competition is evolving
Monzo is entering an increasingly competitive market.
LemFi has expanded beyond remittances into savings and credit products while recently securing investment from Tether to strengthen its stablecoin settlement infrastructure. Kenyan fintech WapiPay has also been expanding its international footprint after securing a Canadian payments licence, while Revolut continues laying the groundwork for its planned South African expansion.
The race is no longer just about moving money across borders. It’s about becoming the primary financial platform for diaspora communities.
For African fintechs, that’s both a challenge and an opportunity. Their deep understanding of local markets, regulatory environments and customer behaviour continues to give them an edge. But as incumbent digital banks integrate cross-border payments directly into everyday banking, specialist providers will increasingly need to differentiate through pricing, speed, additional financial products and customer experience.
Convenience has become the product
Monzo’s partnership with Wise means it isn’t building international payments infrastructure from scratch. Instead, it’s leveraging an established payments network while focusing on what it does best: creating a seamless user experience.
That simplicity matters. Many immigrants still receive their salaries into their primary UK bank before opening a separate remittance app whenever they need to send money home. Removing those extra steps could prove to be Monzo’s biggest competitive advantage.
After the introductory offer ends, customers will pay Wise’s standard transfer fees, meaning Monzo is unlikely to become the cheapest option on the market. Instead, its value proposition is convenience and customer retention.
Whether that’s enough to win market share remains to be seen. But one thing is becoming increasingly clear: as remittances become a strategic growth area for UK fintechs, African-founded payment companies will no longer be competing solely against one another. They’ll also be competing against the banks their customers already use every day.