Africa's payment market was valued at $329-billion in 2025. Yet traditional banking is failing the people who need it most, with cross-border fees averaging between 7.4% and 8.3% and payments taking up to seven days to clear.

The World Bank's Global Findex Report for 2025 surveyed adults across 35 Sub-Saharan African countries on whether they received money from overseas in 2024. The results reveal how unevenly cross-border financial infrastructure is distributed across the continent. In Senegal, 45% of adults received international remittances, the highest rate in the dataset, reflecting one of Africa's largest diaspora networks in Europe. In The Gambia and Comoros, rates exceeded 30%.

South Africa tells a different story. It’s the continent's most financially developed economy, so it ranked 28th out of 35 countries. According to the survey, just 9% of adults reported receiving money from abroad.

Produced by The Outlier in partnership with Electrum, the next-generation payments software company powering payments for banks and retailers.