The Nigerian money app Kuda, announced Wednesday (Nov. 9) that it is launching in the U.K. as part of a global expansion drive with a view to serving the cross-border transfer needs of U.K.-based Nigerians.
The company said it will charge a flat fee of £3 per transfer to a limit of £10,000. Kuda compares this to the average fee of 8% for remittances. In a press release emailed to PYMNTS, Kuda said that over £3 billion ($3.4 billion) are sent from the U.K. to Nigeria every year, and that the new fixed-fee structure has the potential to save Nigerians living in the U.K. millions of pounds.
Around the world, remittance companies like Kuda help Africans living and working abroad to send money back to their families. As such, they play a critical role in the global cross-border payments ecosystem.
Commenting on the launch, Kuda’s CEO and Co-Founder Babs Ogundeyi said, “Africans in the U.K. are faced with barrier after barrier when it comes to financial services — from challenges setting up accounts to prohibitive and inconsistent fees on meaningful transfers. They are forced to limit each transfer to a few hundred pounds to avoid losing money or face escalating exchange rates with bigger transfers.
“Technology means the world is getting smaller but the incredible transformation in financial services hasn’t been inclusive. Kuda is changing that — initially for Nigerians, then all Africans in the U.K. and across the globe.”
Kuda will be available in the U.K. on iOS, Android and as a web app. The company said it plans to expand the remittance service to other African countries and increase the range of features U.K. users have access to “in the near future”.