Kuda users can now send money from the UK to Nigeria

UK-based tell.money, an open banking service provider, has partnered with Kuda to support the launch of its payments app in the UK

Kuda has launched its app in the UK, enabling users to make and schedule payments at home as well as send money to Nigeria. 

The London-based digital bank serves people living in Nigeria. The launch in the UK is the first step in its global expansion to serve Nigerians based overseas. 

UK-based tell.money, an open banking service provider, has partnered with Kuda to support the launch of its payments app in the UK.  

Tell.money will ensure PSD2 open banking compliance for Kuda to enter into the UK. 

David Monty, founder and chief executive officer of tell.money, commented: “Adherence to PSD2 proves to be a challenge for many fintechs. We were very clear on what Kuda needed and were focused on delivering it to enable their entry into the UK market, supporting the many Africans based in the UK. 

“It’s rewarding to see that, working with Kuda we have been able to demonstrate that PSD2 need not be the blocker to compliant growth that many fear.” 

Payments from the UK to Nigeria are currently served by international money transfer operators such as Western Union and Wise, as well as Africa-based fintechs, including Grey. 

Nigeria achieved record remittance inflows in 2021, the largest recipient country in the region, in part due to policies intended to channel inflows through the banking system, a World Bank report showed. 

Sub-Saharan Africa, meanwhile, is the most expensive place in the world to send money. 

Decreasing that cost for low- and middle-income countries by 2% “would potentially translate to $12b of annual savings for international migrants” from those jurisdictions, argued Dilip Ratha, lead author of the report on migration and remittances and head of KNOMAD.  

The partnership with Kuda is the latest step in tell.money’s growth. It recently partnered with Pockit, a digital bank that serves low-income customers, to help with its open banking compliance. 

Kuda Technologies, the parent company of Kuda, was founded in 2019 and now has 5m customers using its app, more than three times the number it had last August during its $55m series B round. 

Image: Kuda 

Josh Poyser Josh Poyser is an editor at FinTech Intel. He has written about fintech for several years and appeared at FinTech Connect 2023 on the 'Unlocking Success: The Art of Fintech PR' panel.