Moniepoint, the Nigerian fintech, is shutting down MonieWorld, the UK-to-Nigeria remittance service it launched in April 2025 through its British subsidiary, Moniepoint GB. MonieWorld stopped accepting transactions on August 15, 2026, and will close for good on September 15. The company says it is moving the service’s technology, capital, and staff to its African markets.
The exit ends Moniepoint’s first push into a sending market. It also shows how hard it is for an African fintech to make money on one of the most contested remittance corridors out of Europe.
Moniepoint committed £1.2 million to its UK launch
The company’s UK spending is on the record. Moniepoint committed about £1.2 million in setup costs, covering administration, tech infrastructure, and compliance staff. It had already written off $1.26 million in administrative and infrastructure costs between February and December 2024. In July 2025, it paid a $2.5 million deposit to acquire Bancom Europe Ltd, an e-money institution authorized by the Financial Conduct Authority, and it earmarked a total of $7.39 million for its London expansion.
On results, Moniepoint cites a 70% increase in monthly transaction volume among UK diaspora users. It has not disclosed total volume or the number of customers it signed up. Without either figure, there is no baseline for that growth, and no way to judge how much it amounts to.
Thin margins meet high fixed costs on the UK-Nigeria corridor
Remittances, the money workers abroad send home, move along corridors: a sending country, a receiving country, and a currency at each end. Each corridor has its own prices, competitors, and compliance requirements.
The UK-to-Nigeria corridor is fought over by established money transfer operators and by a newer wave of firms focused on the African diaspora. Margins are thin by design. Revenue comes from an FX spread and a fee, and competition squeezes both. Against that low revenue per transfer, fixed costs in the UK are high: licensing, anti-money laundering controls, sanctions screening, and customer acquisition in a market crowded with advertising.
| Segment | Average cost |
|---|---|
| G20 receiving countries, average | 5.68% |
| Sub-Saharan Africa, the most expensive region | 8.37% |
| South Asia, the least expensive region | 5.53% |
| Sent through a bank | 14.99% |
| Card-initiated transfers | 4.39% |
Nigeria and Kenya get the money and the staff
Moniepoint is moving resources to Nigeria, where the group says it processed $294 billion in annualized transactions in 2025, and to Kenya, where it bought a 78% stake in Sumac Microfinance Bank in May 2026. Most MonieWorld employees are being redeployed internally. The company says it will process remaining funds and support customers through the transition.
The retreat points to a recurring problem for African fintechs that move upstream into sending markets. Serving the diaspora from London means winning customers who cost tens of pounds each to acquire, for a margin of a few pounds per transfer. Profitability then depends on how often customers send money and how long they stay, and 16 months of operation is rarely enough to establish either.