London (UK) TrueLayer, Europe’s leading open banking platform, today announces its collaboration with innovative fintech firm Lemonade Finance. Founded in 2020, the firm was built to serve the African diaspora, with a focus on enabling Nigerians, Ghanaians, and Kenyans in the UK to send money back to friends and family without any hidden fees.
Remittances to Africa have traditionally been compromised by three significant issues: long transaction times, restrictions in terms of use and higher than average fees. As a result, platforms for international remittances are either unavailable to Africans or limited in their functionality.
Afeez Gbotosho, Head of Product at Lemonade Finance, commented: “Money transfer companies have largely ignored the personal remittance needs of Africans living abroad, so we founded Lemonade Finance to make sending money home as easy as possible. Ensuring we provide a secure, fast and cost-efficient way for Africans in the UK to send funds through the platform then led us to examine how to integrate instant payments through open banking.”
Recognising the opportunity to deliver a superior customer experience, Lemonade Finance has now implemented TrueLayer’s market-leading open banking platform. Through TrueLayer, customers securely connect their bank account to the Lemonade Finance platform, enabling the firm to manage risk more effectively by verifying the account and confirming the payee's details.
Customers can then instantly send funds directly from their bank to Lemonade Finance, using TrueLayer’s account-to-account payments, removing the need to manually enter card details or share their bank credentials. With higher conversion and fewer failed transactions, customers gain additional peace of mind that their recipient will receive the funds in minutes with Lemonade Finance compared to up to four days using other remittance methods.
Afeez Gbotosho, Head of Product at Lemonade Finance, said: “With TrueLayer we are delivering a more efficient way for our customers to send money. With just a few clicks they can fund their account and get confirmation the payment has been made. Thanks to the intuitive user experience, we have already seen many of our customers use open banking and benefit from instant payments to send money back home.”
Nick Tucker, Head of Financial Service at TrueLayer, added: “Open banking with TrueLayer and remittances are a perfect match - they’re instant, secure and more cost-effective compared to cards, digital wallets and manual bank transfers. For years, people haven’t been getting the service they deserve from traditional remittance, paying more than they should on transfers that still take days to arrive. That’s why we’re proud to be working with an innovator like Lemonade Finance who are challenging the status quo and using our technology to make remittances to Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana as easy as possible.”
