Oneremit scales regulatory infrastructure across North America and Africa to support cross-border enterprise trade

As regulatory oversight of cross-border financial services intensifies, payment firms operating in multiple jurisdictions encounter a dual challenge: enhancing technological speed while securing necessary regulatory approvals for compliant money transfers across markets. African businesses engaged in cross-border trade confront significant operational and financial risks due to reliance on unverified routing channels.

Transactions traversing opaque correspondent banking networks remain vulnerable to being flagged, frozen, or delayed during intermediary compliance assessments. By establishing direct regulatory integrations across various jurisdictions, Oneremit aims to mitigate this systemic risk at its core. The company's regulatory framework encompasses robust oversight mechanisms, fortifying the financial infrastructure that powers its mission to enable African businesses to engage in global trade within established regulatory boundaries.

Operating under four regulatory frameworks across key North American and African trade routes—IMTO licensing in Nigeria, FINTRAC and RPAA registrations in Canada, and FinCEN compliance in the US—Oneremit plans to expand its regulatory coverage to the UK, Côte d'Ivoire, and Ghana. This multi-jurisdictional regulatory foundation guarantees that enterprise transfers proceed through thoroughly audited and legally compliant channels.

By adhering to stringent Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Know-Your-Business (KYB) standards, the platform equips corporate clients with the institutional credibility essential to manage substantial capital flows. Oneremit's operational strategy facilitates African enterprises in settling international obligations directly in their local currency, while the company manages currency conversion, routing, and payment delivery to beneficiaries in supported markets.

The company's strategic regulatory expansion underscores a calculated approach to transcend single-market remittance channels, as each new market introduces distinct regulatory, compliance, banking, and operational prerequisites. For instance, Canada's RPAA framework mandates payment service providers to register with the Bank of Canada and comply with stringent operational risk management, incident response guidelines, and end-user fund safeguarding measures.

Entities registered under this framework remain under direct supervision and enforcement oversight by the Bank of Canada. Similarly, Nigeria's Central Bank IMTO framework enforces stringent regulations governing international money transfer operations, setting high standards for corporate governance, compliance, and permissible financial activities.

For Oneremit, navigating these multi-jurisdictional environments constitutes the foundation of its technical and legal architecture. Hammed Afenifere, CEO and co-founder of Oneremit, emphasizes: "Cross-border payments transcend merely moving money from one country to another; you are navigating different financial systems, currencies, and regulatory environments.

Establishing the proper regulatory foundation allows us to continuously expand our offerings without sacrificing compliance." Compliance assumes particular significance in business-to-business payments, where transaction values are often larger, and payments are frequently linked to time-sensitive commercial obligations. For corporate finance teams, regulated cross-border infrastructures offer advantages beyond merely fulfilling legal obligations.

Transparent compliance processes alleviate uncertainty surrounding transaction screening, documentation, and processing, while access to supported local payment networks enhances settlement efficiency across diverse markets. By integrating its regulatory framework with access to payment routes such as US ACH and Fedwire, European SEPA and SEPA Instant, and Canadian Interac and EFT, Oneremit provides businesses with greater clarity on FX pricing, transaction status, and settlement documentation.

This combination enables treasury teams managing recurrent international obligations to achieve enhanced predictability regarding payment costs and settlement timelines, as well as improved clarity for reconciliation, audit, and reporting purposes. In just two years of operations, Oneremit has processed over $200 million in cross-border business payment volume, fueled by the rising demand for international settlement among its enterprise clientele.

The company views its current regulatory milestones as a foundation for ongoing expansion rather than a final destination. "Our objective is to make paying globally feel local for African businesses," Afenifere asserts. "The intricacies of transferring money across currencies, banking systems, and jurisdictions should fall within the purview of the payment provider, not the business attempting to pay its supplier."

As payment companies in Africa venture beyond their domestic markets, regulatory considerations are becoming an integral component of growth infrastructure. While technology can expedite transactions or simplify initiation, operating across multiple markets necessitates providers to navigate the regulatory frameworks governing transaction processing.

For Oneremit, its expanding regulatory footprint is designed to support the next phase of growth: extending the markets and payment routes accessible to African enterprises competing in global markets while adhering to the compliance requirements of each jurisdiction.