BUSINESS

Worldremit explains send licence closure in Uganda

Posted on 05/07/2022

Uganda joins Singapore and Russia among the countries where WordRemit transactions have been blocked (PHOTO /Courtesy)

KAMPALA –WorldRemit Money Transfer (U) Limited has explained that its exit from Uganda does not affect money remittance business in the country noting that the firm only stopped facilitating send transactions from Uganda.

In a statement released Tuesday, July 5, 2022, Worldremit indicated that customers receiving funds in Uganda are not affected by its decision and that will be able to continue to receive funds via the WorldRemit service without disruption through the company’s existing partner work.

“Any transactions sent from Uganda before 6th June 2022 will be processed as normal, and customers will continue to receive SMS email updates. All users, both senders, and receivers, can continue to access past transactions and recipient information, by logging into their account on the WorldRemit website,” a spokesperson from WorldRemit said.

The statement added: “It is WorldRemit’s continued goal to ensure offering the greatest value for its customers around the world and to do so, occasionally WorldRemit has to make difficult decisions that impact a small number of customers. As part of the strategy, WorldRemit, therefore, decided to no longer support outbound money transfers from Uganda, as well as a handful of other countries across the world. Customers in these countries will however continue to be able to receive money through WorldRemit from abroad”.

WorldRemit is a leading global payments company and part of Zepz, a group powering two global payments brands. WorldRemit disrupted an industry previously dominated by offline legacy players by taking international money transfers online – making them safer, faster, and lower cost. We currently send from over 50 countries to recipients in 130+ countries and operate in more than 5,000 money transfer corridors worldwide.

In a statement on Monday, 04 July 2022, the Bank of Uganda said: “The public is notified that the closure of WorldRemit Money Transfer (U) Limited as a company will not affect WorldRemit money remittance product offered by several supervised financial institutions in Uganda.”

Bank of Uganda urged customers with outstanding claims for monies given to WorldRemit Money Transfer (U) Limited for remittance purposes to submit the claims, with evidence, to the office of the Director Non-Bank Financial Institutions Department at Bank of Uganda by July 18, 2022.

“Bank of Uganda assures the public that it will continue to safeguard the stability and integrity of the financial sector,” the central bank announced.