British International Investment (BII), the UK's development finance institution (DFI) and impact investor, has announced a $20m senior secured loan to TerraPay, a global cross-border payments processor with a key focus on remittance transfers into Africa. 

This will contribute towards the continuing lower cost, higher speed, improved reliability and accessibility of remittance transfers into the continent, enhancing financial inclusion.

The remittance costs for the Sub-Saharan African region remain the highest in the world. 

For example, sending $200 to the region cost on average 8 per cent in 2022, while the global average cost for the same amount stands at 6.2%. 

This is more than double the Sustainable Development Goal target of 3%, according to the World Bank. 

Chris Chijiutomi, Managing Director and Head of Africa, BII said: “Sending money to Africa is expensive. That is why our investment in TerraPay is critical to help increase availability of lower-cost, efficient, accessible and reliable remittances. This aligns with our goal to support resilient financing and improve economic opportunities on the continent.”  

Through its network, TerraPay connects directly both traditional money transfer operators such as Western Union, and digital-only fintechs like Wise with some of the largest mobile money operators in Africa including M-Pesa, MTN Mobile Money, Airtel Mobile Money. 

Its tech-enabled model facilitates real time, lower-cost digital money transfers, tackling the bottleneck of high transfer fees and slow settlement for the African diaspora sending money back to the continent. 

BII’s funding will be used as part of TerraPay’s working capital to pre-fund growing remittance volumes to Africa. 

It will prioritise key African corridors, with high volumes expected in Kenya, Ghana, Egypt, Uganda, Tanzania, Cameroon, Mali, Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal and Mozambique.

BII is committing through Lendable’s existing senior secured facility, leveraging the partner’s expertise in fintech debt investing across Africa as well as their investment monitoring capabilities. 

Suresh Samuel, Managing Director and Head of Fintech at Lendable, said: “We have been supporting TerraPay since 2020, as the company accelerated its growth facilitating remittances across emerging markets. We continue to believe in the importance of increasing digital payments globally and are excited to work with BII in furthering support to TerraPay to expand this mandate.”