Moving Money and Mindsets

This report, produced by DMA Global for FSD Africa, examines the drivers and barriers influencing the migration of remittance senders from cash-based agent services to digital channels for transfers from the UK to Africa. Based on focus group discussions (FGDs) with 74 members of various African diaspora communities in London, the report finds that while online service usage has surged in some communities, a strong 'stickiness' to cash remains in others, often linked to the quality of digital payment infrastructure in the receive-country.

• There has been a notable increase in the use of online remittance services among the surveyed diaspora, with approximately half of the focus group participants reporting current use of formal online services, a significant shift from 2015/2016 data which estimated that 90% of UK-to-Africa remittances were paid in cash at agents.
• The 'stickiness' of cash varies by community and correlates with the receive-country's domestic payment infrastructure. Cash is most 'sticky' in the DRC, Zimbabwe, and Sierra Leone, where payment systems are less developed. Conversely, online services are most common among Tanzanian, Ghanaian, and Kenyan participants, who send to countries with more developed digital infrastructures.
• The primary drivers for switching to online services include the availability of digital payout options (m-wallets or bank accounts) in the receive-country, price incentives, and the convenience of sending money outside of agent office hours or during emergencies.
• Personal recommendations, or 'word of mouth,' are the most significant trigger for changing remittance operators or methods, as diaspora communities are highly interconnected via WhatsApp and other social networks.
• Barriers to online adoption include complex registration and onboarding processes, perceived security risks (identity theft), and a lack of trust in digital systems among older generations. Some users also prefer agents for the perceived accountability and customer service provided by a physical person.
• In the UK-to-Nigeria corridor, remittance behavior is heavily driven by the existence of a black market and government exchange controls, leading 12 out of 14 Nigerian participants to prefer informal agents who offer more profitable exchange rates.
• Large Remittance Service Providers (RSPs) like Western Union and MoneyGram are perceived as not actively promoting their online services in 'cash-corridors' (such as DRC and Zimbabwe), where they rely on their extensive physical payout networks to maintain market dominance.
• Informal agents are often preferred by senders who lack the required identification (KYC) for formal services or those sending very large sums that exceed the limits of formal providers.

APA

FSD Africa (2018). Moving Money and Mindsets. https://fsdafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/DMA-Moving-Money-and-Mindsets-28.11.18-1-2_compressed.pdf

Chicago

FSD Africa. Moving Money and Mindsets. 2018. https://fsdafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/DMA-Moving-Money-and-Mindsets-28.11.18-1-2_compressed.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=FSD Africa |title=Moving Money and Mindsets |date=December 2018 |url=https://fsdafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/DMA-Moving-Money-and-Mindsets-28.11.18-1-2_compressed.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{fsdafrica2018moving, author = {{FSD Africa}}, title = {{Moving Money and Mindsets}}, institution = {FSD Africa}, year = {2018}, month = dec, url = {https://fsdafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/DMA-Moving-Money-and-Mindsets-28.11.18-1-2_compressed.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }