African businesses are increasingly operating across borders. A company in Nigeria can source products from Ghana, hire talent in Kenya, serve customers in the UK and settle payments in dollars all while dealing with different financial systems and regulatory requirements.
Moving money across those markets, however, is rarely as straightforward as doing business across them.
Companies often have to deal with multiple banking relationships, varying compliance requirements and settlement delays that can make international payments expensive and unpredictable.
The cost of sending money across the continent remains high. Data from the World Bank’s Remittance Prices Worldwide shows that Sub-Saharan Africa had an average remittance cost of 8.78%, making it the most expensive region for sending money.
For businesses, that creates another layer of friction. Finding reliable customers and suppliers is one challenge; moving money between them efficiently is another.
This is the problem Oneremit is trying to address, with regulation at the centre of its strategy.
Building around regulated payment infrastructure
Oneremit, a cross-border payments platform, says it has secured regulatory registrations and licences across several markets.
The company is registered as a Money Services Business with FINTRAC in Canada and as a Payment Service Provider with the Bank of Canada. It is also registered as a Money Services Business with FinCEN in the United States and holds an International Money Transfer Operator licence from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Oneremit says it is also working towards securing licences from the Bank of Ghana and the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
The strategy is aimed at building a regulated network across the payment corridors used by African businesses.
For cross-border payment providers, regulatory coverage can also make it easier to establish relationships with banks and other financial institutions. Those relationships can support faster settlements and make payment routes more predictable for businesses.
In other words, regulation is not simply a compliance requirement. It can become part of the infrastructure that makes cross-border payments work.
More than a payment interface
Oneremit’s approach extends beyond giving businesses a platform to send and receive money.
The company says it is investing in several parts of the cross-border payment process, including regulatory coverage, payment corridors, compliance, transaction monitoring, technology partnerships and customer support.
That broader infrastructure becomes increasingly important as more African companies conduct business across multiple markets.
According to Oneremit, the platform has processed more than $200 million in outgoing cross-border transactions within its first 18 months of operation.
The figure points to the demand for payment infrastructure that can support businesses operating across borders, although the company’s transaction figure is self-reported.
Expanding across more corridors
Oneremit’s next phase is focused largely on expanding its regulatory and geographic footprint.
The company plans to pursue additional licences, increase the number of payment corridors it supports and continue developing the technology connecting those markets.
As African businesses increasingly source, sell, hire and settle payments internationally, the systems moving their money will become just as important as the systems moving their products.
For Oneremit, the bet is that reliable cross-border commerce starts with reliable and regulated financial infrastructure.