Zeeh Africa takes open banking global, targeting diasporan Africans

Zeeh Africa, a Nigeria-based open banking infrastructure company, has announced a significant global expansion, extending its operations to North America and the United Kingdom.

Building on its established presence in Nigeria, Ghana, and Kenya, the fintech pioneer aims to tackle the persistent financial identity gap and enhance financial inclusion for the millions of individuals within the African diaspora worldwide.

Recognising the critical role of the diaspora, which sees substantial remittances flowing to sub-Saharan Africa (reaching approximately $54 billion in 2023), Zeeh Africa is directly addressing the high costs and complexities associated with cross-border financial services.

The average cost of sending money to Africa remains the highest globally at nearly 8 percent, and many diaspora members face challenges due to a lack of recognised financial identity. With a significant portion of sub-Saharan African adults remaining unbanked and without official ID, Zeeh Africa’s expansion seeks to empower these communities with portable financial profiles and easier access to essential services both abroad and in their home countries.

Zeeh Africa’s API-first, cloud-based open banking platform enables seamless integration for financial institutions, offering key functionalities such as secure unified KYC verification, behavioral credit scoring utilizing alternative data, and cross-border payments connectivity.

In a statement, the company said it has already established strong partnerships with over 65 financial institutions across Africa, including banks, microfinance providers, and mobile money operators, who leverage their infrastructure to reach underserved populations. Now, Zeeh Africa is onboarding global financial partners in North America and the UK to bridge the gap between diaspora finance and home-country banking systems.

“Zeeh Africa boasts a proven track record in Africa, having processed over 85,000 individual financial profiles and influenced over $15.5 million in credit decisions. This success underscores Zeeh’s capacity to scale inclusive finance solutions, and its global expansion will initially focus on key diaspora hubs in the United States, Canada, and the UK,” it said.

David Adeleke, CEO of Zeeh Africa, emphasised the company’s vision for borderless financial inclusion, stating, “We started Zeeh Africa to break down the walls that left millions of Africans without a financial identity… As we expand into the global market, we carry a bold vision: to make financial inclusion a borderless reality.”

This strategic move positions Zeeh Africa as a pioneering force in global fintech, marking the emergence of an African-born open banking infrastructure with worldwide reach.

“As global remittances continue to grow, Zeeh Africa’s presence in North America and the UK is expected to facilitate better integration of emerging markets into the global financial system, potentially lowering remittance costs, increasing competition, and fostering greater financial equity for underserved communities,” the statement reads.