Tranglo, a Malaysian cross-border payment specialist, announced 4 new payment corridors in Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda, and Brazil, marking the fintech’s first foray into Sub Saharan Africa and Latin America.
Tranglo said that it aims to play its part in lowering the cost of remittances in these regions.
According to World Bank data, Sub Saharan Africa is the costliest region to send remittances to, averaging 8.5% to send USD 200 in the third quarter of 2020, while it costs an average of 5.8% to send the same amount to Latin America. For context, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals calls for the reduction of transaction costs to 3% by 2030.
Nigeria, Ghana, and Uganda ranked 1st, 2nd, and 7th respectively in the list of top 10 largest remittance recipients in the region in 2020, according to World Bank estimates. Collectively, remittance inflows for the 3 countries totaled USD 25 billion, or 43% of the total value.
Tranglo’s network there includes major digital wallets, instant banking, and cash pickups.
Meanwhile, remittance inflows to Brazil were about USD 3 billion in 2020. Despite forecasts of the global decline in remittances due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Latin America was surprisingly resilient, in particular Brazil, which registered no contractions throughout the year.
With 75% of remittances in Latin America coming from the US, Tranglo had first expanded to the North American market through partnerships with market leaders and integrating their cross-border infrastructure with Tranglo’s API.
Tranglo’s network in Brazil includes direct bank transfers and cash pickups.
Supported by local and foreign partnerships, Tranglo’s proprietary single interface platform is available in over 23 countries.
Jacky Lee, CEO of Tranglo said,
“It is just the first of many to come. We are already planning to expand into countries like Mexico and Argentina next, bringing our cross-border payment solutions to even more businesses in the region and beyond.
We are also focusing on enhancing e-wallet support to stay ahead in the digital economy, so stay tuned for more exciting development this year.”
Featured image credit: Edited from Unsplash here and here
