After a personal banking ordeal that exposed the rigidity of cross-border money transfers, the founder and CEO of Expedier, Kingsley Madu, decided enough was enough. His solution? Build something faster, smarter, and more accessible. Derived from the French word meaning “to send quickly,” Expedier has grown from a personal tool into a trusted financial companion for thousands globally.
Established in 2020 with features like virtual dollar and CAD cards, multi-currency wallets, and instant global transfers, Expedier isn’t just solving a problem, but also redefining everyday banking for users across Africa, North America, and beyond.
“Sometimes the speed of transactions we enable is mind-blowing for our users,” the founder says. And that speed? It’s just one part of what makes this Nigerian-owned, Canada-based fintech stand out.
In this conversation, Madu talks about the past, present, and future of Expedier.
Can you tell us the story behind the founding of Expedier? What gap in the market were you trying to fill?
When I moved to Canada, I managed to open my first bank account. But because I had traveled around the world, my money was scattered across countries. When I tried to move money from my US bank account to Canada, the bank froze the US account, claiming it was an unusual transaction. They requested that I show up at a branch before they would unfreeze the account. That was when I realized that there was friction with cross-border payments. I wanted to solve the problems I encountered with cross-border payments and build myself an app. I eventually did, and my friends would see it and say they also have similar problems. They would then use it and refer it to their other friends. And before I knew it, Expedier became a household name. Since then, we’ve added more functionalities and features to make it the go-to everyday banking app.
Apart from Africans, can anybody use this solution that the Expedier team has built?
While Expedier began as a solution for African immigrants navigating cross-border finance, its relevance has grown far beyond that. Today, people from all backgrounds, Africans and non-Africans alike, use Expedier to manage everyday finances across borders.
Some use our virtual card for online purchases on platforms like eBay, Amazon, or Netflix. Others use it to pay international tuition directly to institutions. For many, Expedier provides the freedom to move money globally, access mortgages, or build credit from scratch.
It’s become a trusted financial tool for students, families, business owners, and anyone seeking more control over their money. That’s why we call it a super Money App. It’s built for everyone, everywhere.
How does being a Nigerian-owned company operating out of Canada shape your approach to product development and customer support?
It’s been both tough and rewarding. Rewarding because we’ve been able to bring on board the best-in-class with innovative technology. Tough because operating as a Nigerian-owned company in Canada means entering spaces that haven’t always been the easiest to break into. At the same time, we’ve had to design for a global audience, not restricted by geography or background. It’s been challenging, but we’ve successfully built a solution that meets those demands head-on.
Expedier offers products like virtual dollar and CAD cards, multi-currency wallets, and currency swaps. Can you walk us through how each of these works in practical terms?
To get started, a user simply funds their Expedier wallet with any supported currency, whether pounds, naira, cedis, USD, or CAD. From there, they can instantly move funds to their virtual card. For added security, the card isn’t directly linked to the main wallet. Only the amount transferred is accessible for transactions. This creates an extra layer of protection. Once funded, the card can be used seamlessly across online platforms, whether for shopping, subscriptions, or payments. It’s that straightforward.
How does Expedier ensure competitive rates for these currency exchanges compared to traditional banks or even other fintechs?
We provide the most competitive rates in the market. Over the years, we’ve realized that the exchange rate is one of the biggest factors that drives user behavior. So, I’m happy to say that we give our users globally the best exchange rates.
What safeguards or compliance measures have you built into these offerings, especially with cross-border regulations?
It is nearly impossible for you to even find a platform in the cross-border space that is operational without compliance measures in place. That is something we’ve been doing from day one, and we continue to do so in any jurisdiction that we operate. We ensure that we have satisfied and even gone beyond the regulatory and compliance requirements. For example, we do not joke with knowing and understanding our clients.
When a user registers with us, we begin to ask for that information to help us identify them, know their risk profiles. It’s quite a bit of work because you have to comply with regulations that are not the same across different jurisdictions. So one of the things that we’ve done is to define a unified approach with Expedier.
Trust is a major concern when it comes to financial platforms. What steps have you taken to earn and maintain users’ trust, especially in Nigeria and across Africa?
Trust was one of our biggest challenges in the early days, especially in a space where many users have been disappointed before. So we knew we had to lead with transparency and a human-first approach.
From the start, we gave users real phone lines to call, where they could speak to actual team members, not bots. We showed real faces, offered hands-on support, and walked users through the platform step by step. That personal connection made a huge difference.
Even now, our team proactively reaches out when there’s a delay or issue, often before the user even notices. We provide regular updates, sometimes hourly, until everything is resolved. That level of care has become one of our strongest differentiators.
Many Nigerians have experienced disappointments with foreign platforms limiting or blocking services. What makes Expedier different?
What often causes platform-wide service disruptions is a lack of upfront compliance. When platforms allow unchecked access, bad actors slip through, forcing them to later block large groups of users indiscriminately.
At Expedier, we’ve taken a different approach. From day one, we’ve focused on clear onboarding and upfront KYC processes to ensure compliance and protect our ecosystem. This early rigor helps us filter out non-compliant users before they create downstream issues.
While no system is immune, we take proactive steps to identify and address risks quickly, without compromising the experience for legitimate users.
How does your team balance innovation with financial compliance and user safety?
I think of innovation, compliance, and user safety as three levers that work in unison to establish a platform. Compliance doesn’t mean that we cannot innovate. It actually allows us to innovate within boundaries and rules that contain that innovation. At the same time, it also helps us protect our users. At Expedier, we ensure that users are protected while we are being innovative within boundaries.
Are there specific regions or demographics you’re currently targeting for growth?
Students, businesses, NGOs, families who have relatives in other regions of the world, and indigenous locals in North America using Expedier to build their Credit and use it as their everyday Money App. It is that one super app, and there’s hardly a use case that you won’t find a good fit for on the app.
Do you plan to expand to include even more African currencies or regional integrations in the near future?
The mainstream ones on the app today are Naira, USD and the CAD. Within the next few months, Euros and Pounds, will go mainstream. Before the end of the year, about 27 nations across Africa will go mainstream, right from Central West Africa to Southern Africa. At least 50 different nations being added to the platform before the end of the year.
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