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PEXBANK is a tech-enabled platform that provides instant payment processing to allow recipients of diaspora remittances to receive money for local expenditure with zero need for currency handling though direct peer conversions. Pexbank unlocks a settlement innovation that lets you send money without moving money abroad. We aim to provide access to peer liquidity and best-fit cross border payment options through networks of existing payment services around the globe.
Four major trends emphasize our focus market which include migration, diaspora remittances, non-oil import & global commerce expenditure, as well as global freelancing statistics. Remittances from Nigerians in the Diaspora now stand at an average of $29.8-34 billion annually. According to World Bank, personal remittances to Nigeria account for an average of $17.21 billion in 2020. An estimated average of 1.24million Nigerians lived abroad in 2017 according to PWC, and today, these numbers are even higher and the volume of remittances are likely to increase year on year. According to World Bank trade reports, Nigeria had a total export of $34.9 billion and total imports of $55.5 billion in 2020 leading to a negative trade balance of -$20.5 billion which contributes to the growing pressure on fx reserves affecting commerce and import businesses. If personal remittances filled this void, there still remains a huge deficit of about about $3.29 billion which could be compensated by potential sources such as a growth-fostered freelance community and it’s revenue potential. Even so, freelance-focused payment products such as WISE among others is facing peculiar challenges with the current wave of transfer restrictions to Nigeria.
Due to supply deficit of federal fx reserves, consumers are allowed to source privately for their fx needs but have five major concerns regarding FX sources – price, cost, delivery time, ease of payment, and availability. Remittance bottlenecks have prompted migrants to search out and adopt creative and unconventional ways to send money. Declining FX reserve creates a huge supply deficiency that affects personal and commercial settlements, and as a result, this triggers the huge price gaps exploited by opportunists in the parallel market. On a macro scale, the economic impact of this leads to inflation on consumer goods. Consumers want access to sustainable fx sources and level-playing field to control market or trade parameters.