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Compliance technology company SmartComply is expanding into the United Kingdom as part of efforts to help financial institutions reconnect with African payment corridors through stronger anti-money laundering (AML) and compliance capabilities.
The company, which currently monitors more than $1 billion in monthly transactions for over 100 financial institutions across Africa, said its UK expansion is focused on supporting electronic money institutions, remittance providers, and cross-border payment fintechs navigating growing compliance demands tied to African transactions.
The move comes amid a steady decline in correspondent banking relationships into Sub-Saharan Africa, which have dropped by more than 25 per cent over the past decade. At the same time, UK outbound remittances to the region continue to exceed £4 billion annually, highlighting the increasing importance of secure and efficient payment channels.
Despite rising remittance flows, the cost of sending money from the UK to Sub-Saharan Africa remains high. According to World Bank data, the average remittance fee stands at 8.5 per cent, significantly above the United Nations’ 3 per cent affordability target.
To address compliance and operational barriers affecting these corridors, SmartComply is positioning its Adhere AML platform as a specialised solution built for African financial ecosystems.
The platform combines real-time transaction monitoring, automated Know Your Customer (KYC) and Know Your Business (KYB) orchestration, sanctions screening, politically exposed persons (PEP) monitoring, and audit-ready reporting tools tailored to Africa’s payment infrastructure.
According to the company, the technology is designed to recognise region-specific financial systems, including Nigeria’s Bank Verification Number (BVN) framework and Kenya’s mobile money ecosystem, areas often underserved by compliance tools developed for Western markets.
SmartComply claims institutions using the platform have reported a 70 per cent reduction in manual compliance workload and a 40 per cent drop in false-positive fraud alerts, helping financial firms improve efficiency while strengthening regulatory compliance.
Speaking on the expansion, Chief Executive Officer of SmartComply, Gbemisola Osunrinde, said Africa’s payment corridors should be viewed as an opportunity for global finance rather than a compliance burden.
“African payment corridors should be a growth opportunity for the global financial system, not a liability. Compliance technology designed in New York or London cannot effectively interpret Nigerian BVNs, understand mobile money patterns in Kenya, or detect the dynamics of West African mule networks. We built Adhere to enable secure growth without compromising compliance standards,” Osunrinde said.
Industry analysts say specialised compliance infrastructure could play a critical role in restoring trust in African payment networks, lowering transaction costs, and improving financial inclusion across key remittance markets.
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