Transferwise is an international money transfer platform that recently rebranded its name to “wise”. This platform aims to create faster, easier, and cheaper International money transfer services. This International money transfer company has maintained its relevance over the decade, with over 10 million active users worldwide coupled with billions of transfers every month. It is not a gain to say that transferwise has found its proverbial home throughout the globe.
Why is this so? The reasons for this are not far-fetched. Transferwise makes it easy to move a large amount of money across borders with meagre transaction fees and accuracy and speed.
The Reason Transferwise Stopped Sending Remittances To Nigeria
Remittances are funds transferred from one person to another, especially migrants to their home country. Nigerians in the diaspora enjoyed the services of Transferwise when sending money to Nigeria. But the financial world was greeted with the news that the company has stopped all remittances to Nigeria. Announcing this through its email handle, the platform said transactions services to Nigeria have not been as swift and reliable as expected.
Since there is no smoke without fire, what prompted the decision to halt remittances to Nigeria? Recall the Central Bank of Nigeria’s new rules banning Mobile Money Operators (MMOs) and Payment Service Solution Providers (PSSP) operators from receiving foreign remittances. This means anyone who wants to receive remittances from the diaspora will no longer receive them in their wallet online as they were before. This severe cog in the wheel made Transferwise stop remittances to Nigeria.
In addition, the decision of the Central Bank Of Nigeria to change the currency of payment to the dollar from naira facilitated the decision from Transferwise to stop remittances to Nigeria.
Moreover, Transferwise and many well-known International Money Transfer Operators were left out of the Central Bank Of Nigeria’s approved list of foreign remittance operators with the argument that there is an urgent need for a reduction in arbitrage where International Money Transfer Operators( IMTOS) amass profits from unofficial channels.
In conclusion, this is not the first time Transferwise stopped remittances to Nigeria. In the year 2020, it also stopped for a while before bouncing back. This means this stop is also temporary. This can be supported by the company’s mail citing: ” We are stopping all USD transfers to Nigeria because sending money to Nigeria has not been as fast and reliable as we had liked. We want to fix this before your next USD transfer to Nigeria”. With this, far and near, Nigerians will again be lifted by the ecstasy of victory when the platform resumes the whole operation in Nigeria.
