The Central Bank of Nigeria recently announced that 11 international money transfer operators (IMTOs) have been given license to operate in Nigeria.
The eleven IMTOs – Trans-Fast Remittance LLC, WorldRemit Limited, UAE Exchange Centre LLC, Wari Limited, Homesend S.C.R.L, Small World Financial Services Group Limited, Weblink International Limited, Cashpot Limited, DT&T Corporation Limited, Fiem Group LLC DBA Ping Express, and CP Express Limited – can now make transfers into the country.
Earlier this month, CBN blocked almost all IMTOs from transferring funds into the country based off some regulation with “draconian rules” (WorldRemit’s words, not mine) and only 3 IMTOs – Western Union, MoneyGram and Ria – made the cut. There were a few calls for the review of this regulation and now, things seem to be working out.
According to CBN, this licensing is “in furtherance of CBN’s effort to liberalise the foreign exchange market and ensure liquidity by making foreign exchange more readily available to low end users.”
WorldRemit, who’s been the most vocal IMTO during the whole saga, is particularly happy about this development. Founder and CEO, Ismail Ahmed, said,“We commend the CBN for reaffirming the country’s commitment to building an enabling environment and level-playing field for international money transfer services to Nigeria. The new environment will help to bring the estimated 50% of remittances to Nigeria that currently go through unregulated, informal networks into the formal channels.”
To celebrate the relaunch of their services to Nigeria, WorldRemit is offering promotional pricing of nominal $0.01, €0.01, £0.01 or its equivalent in fees on all money transfers to Nigeria until September 30, 2016.
