Global Remittance App
Development Company —
Africa

Operating a remittance service from the UK requires authorisation from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as either a Payment Institution (PI) or Electronic Money Institution (EMI). From the USA, you need Money Transmitter Licences (MTL) in each state where you operate — typically 40+ states for a nationwide service. From the EU, a PSD2 Electronic Money Institution licence from an EU member state provides passporting rights across the bloc. On the Africa side, destination countries do not typically require a local licence for foreign remittance operators making payouts through licensed local partners (mobile money operators and banks), but this varies by country.

M-Pesa payouts in Kenya use Safaricom's Daraja API — specifically the B2C (Business to Customer) API, which allows a registered Safaricom business account to send money directly to any M-Pesa number in Kenya. The remittance platform calls the B2C API with the recipient's phone number and payout amount; Safaricom processes the transfer and returns a confirmation callback. To use Daraja B2C in production, you must register a Safaricom merchant account, complete Safaricom's Go-Live process, and maintain a business M-Pesa float account. Algosoft handles the complete Daraja API integration and Safaricom merchant account setup as part of every Kenya remittance project.

The remittance platform connects to a live FX rate feed (Open Exchange Rates, Wise API, or a bank rate feed) and applies a configured spread on top of the mid-market rate to arrive at the customer exchange rate. When the sender initiates a transfer, the platform locks in the displayed rate for a short window (typically 30–60 seconds) while the sender confirms payment. After confirmation, the rate is fixed for the transaction regardless of subsequent market movements. The spread between mid-market and customer rate is one of the primary revenue streams for remittance operators.

AML requirements for cross-border money transfer include: sender identity verification (KYC), real-time sanctions screening (OFAC, UN, EU, UK HMT) on every sender, recipient, and transfer, transaction monitoring for structuring, velocity anomalies, and high-risk corridors, source of funds verification for high-value transfers, SAR (Suspicious Activity Report) filing with the financial intelligence unit in the source country, and record-keeping for 5–7 years depending on jurisdiction. Each source-country licence (FCA, FinCEN, CBUAE) has its own specific AML rulebook — Algosoft's compliance module is configurable per jurisdiction.

Cash agent payout is essential for recipients in rural or underbanked areas without mobile money or bank accounts. When a transfer is routed for cash payout, the remittance platform sends a disbursement instruction to the nearest registered agent. The recipient receives an SMS with a collection code and agent location. They visit the agent, present their ID and collection code, and the agent marks the transfer as paid in the agent app — reducing the agent's float balance. The agent earns a disbursement commission per transaction. Algosoft's agent app includes float monitoring, top-up request, and daily reconciliation to ensure agents maintain sufficient liquidity.

A nostro account is a bank account held in a foreign country in the local currency — for example, a Kenya shilling account held at Equity Bank Kenya by a UK remittance operator. When a sender pays in GBP in the UK, the remittance platform debits the GBP float, credits the KES nostro account, and the M-Pesa or bank payout is funded from the Kenya nostro. Without a funded nostro account in the destination currency, payouts cannot be processed. Managing nostro balances — ensuring they're always funded for the day's payout volume without holding excess idle cash — is the core treasury challenge in remittance operations. Algosoft's treasury dashboard provides real-time nostro balance visibility and automated low-balance alerts.

Yes — Algosoft's remittance platform architecture is designed for multi-corridor operation from a single codebase. Each corridor is configured independently with its own payout network integrations, FX rates, fee structure, transaction limits, and compliance rules. Adding a new corridor (e.g., expanding from UK→Kenya to UK→Ghana) requires activating a new payout connector (MTN MoMo Ghana), configuring GHS FX rates and fees, and enabling the corridor-specific AML and regulatory reporting module. The sender app dynamically adjusts available payout methods based on the selected destination country.

A single-corridor MVP takes 4–5 months. A mid-level platform with 3–5 corridors, multiple payout methods, and a full compliance panel takes 6–8 months. An advanced platform with 5–10 corridors, FX treasury management, and multi-regulator compliance takes 9–12 months. Timeline is primarily driven by the number of payout API integrations (each requires sandbox testing and a Go-Live process with the payout partner), compliance module configuration depth, and source-country regulatory requirements. Algosoft's modular architecture minimises re-work when adding new corridors post-launch.