OPay acquires CBN approval for international money transfer

OPay, a provider of payment, ride-hailing, food delivery and loan services have been given approval by Nigeria’s Apex Bank Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to commence international money transfer in Nigeria.

The approval would enable OPay to start facilitating B2B, B2P and P2P remittance services into Nigeria. This is coming off the heels of the earlier announced $50 million fundraised from a major venture capitalist some months ago.

“The plan is to distort the remittance space and ensure that international money transfer into Nigeria is safer, faster and more affordable” Kunle Olamuyiwa, Director of Remittances Services at OPay, said.

With OPay’s infrastructure in Nigeria, it will be easier and faster for global remittance companies to partner with OPay to help their customers to receive money from their business partners, customers and loved ones directly into their OPay wallet and any bank account or mobile wallet in Nigeria.

Also, recipients can cash out their funds from their OPay wallets at any of over 100,000 OPay mobile money agents in Nigeria.

“We are already working with major global remittance companies around the world and will start facilitating remittances to Nigeria with these partners in December ensuring the best fees and exchange rates, speed and security,” Kunle added.

When asked how this will benefit the recipients of money transfers in Nigeria, Kunle said that there is a plan to commence a big-bang promo in December, with lots of prices for recipients of money transfer who receive their money directly into their OPay wallets.

“I can only advise everyone who has families around the world to get an OPay Wallet. They will get better value for these funds doing transfers to any bank, paying their bills, buying food and also using our on-demand transport services i.e. Oride, OBus and Otrike.

“And on top of all, they can channel unused funds to OWealth and earn interest on it daily. It is indeed better times for recipients of international money transfers in Nigeria,” he added.

OPay launched its mobile payment service in August 2018, creating an infrastructure on which the company is now also adding new services. The agent-centric mobile payment operation focused on reaching the massive unbanked population of Nigeria.

Currently, OPay has expanded into other verticals like ride-hailing (ORide and OTrike), an online food delivery (OFood), as well as facilitating access to third-party provided microloans (OKash) and wealth management (OWealth) and there will be more to come in the coming months.