Nigerian fintech Pesa is expanding its cross-border payments business into Australia, targeting Africans and other international communities who regularly move money between Australia and countries such as Nigeria. The launch marks another step in the company’s ambition to make international money transfers faster, cheaper and more transparent.
Pesa’s Australian expansion comes as remittance customers continue to face the high costs and delays associated with traditional international transfers. The Reserve Bank of Australia has noted that although the cost of international payments has declined in recent years, cross-border transfers can still remain above global cost targets and bank-mediated remittances are often slower than desired.
For Pesa, Australia represents an opportunity to serve a growing African diaspora. The company says more than 12,800 Nigeria-born residents live in Australia, with significant communities in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane. These users often send money home to support families, pay tuition, fund personal projects or meet other financial obligations.
Pesa’s Australian service is built around a direct connection to local payment infrastructure. The company is registered with the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) as an Independent Remittance Dealer, allowing it to operate within Australia’s regulatory framework.
One of the key differences in Pesa’s model is how it handles settlement. Rather than waiting for funds to travel through several correspondent banks before paying a recipient in Nigeria, Pesa maintains liquidity in Nigeria. When an Australian customer initiates a transfer, the Nigerian recipient can therefore receive the money without waiting for the original Australian funds to physically move through multiple financial institutions.
The company is also positioning transparency as a major selling point. Pesa says customers can see the exchange rate and amount the recipient will receive before confirming a transaction, while its current Australian offering promotes zero transfer fees. The company generates revenue primarily through the foreign-exchange spread rather than an explicit transfer charge.
The expansion puts Pesa into competition with established international remittance companies such as Wise and Remitly, alongside African-focused fintechs including LemFi and Flutterwave. Its strategy is therefore less about simply providing another remittance app and more about building payment infrastructure around underserved diaspora corridors.
Australia also fits into Pesa’s broader expansion strategy. The company has been developing infrastructure that allows businesses and fintechs to move money internationally, while its consumer platform supports transfers across more than 40 countries.
The Australian launch could ultimately become more than a new destination for Nigerian remittances. By combining local regulatory access, pre-funded liquidity and digital payment infrastructure, Pesa is betting that international money movement can increasingly feel like a domestic transaction—fast, predictable and transparent.
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