You're probably sending money to Nigeria to support your loved ones, and the money you send has a big impact on your family back home. That's why it's really important that you compare all your options before your next transaction, making sure you get the best GBP-NGN exchange rate to convert your pounds into naira.
Your bank is generally not an option to send money to Nigeria, and you can anyways find better exchange rate by using specialized money transfer operators, such as Azimo, WesternUnion or WorldRemit, which offer low-cost money transfer to Nigeria and are very convenient to use, whether you want to send money to a bank account in Lagos, as a mobile top-up anywhere, or to a cash pick-up agency in Kano, Kaduna or any other city.
Fees and rates change all the time, but we’ll do the research and send you an email every two weeks to make sure you always get the best deal.
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Sending money to Nigeria with low transfer fees and a good exchange rate is not as easy as it might seem, or at least not as easy at it should be.
Recently, Nigeria went through a lot of economical changes, which had a big impact on it currency, the Naira, which has been depreciating against the dollar or the pound. This is a difficult situation for the economy in Nigeria, but it is rather a good news for people sending money to Nigeria, as they get more Nairas for their Pounds than before. But it also created a lot of instability in the currencies market and the Central Bank of Nigeria is intervening on this market to prevent the Naira to fall even more. But because the demand for dollars and other foreign currencies is still very strong in Nigeria, a huge parallel market has emerge, where more than $10M are exchanged every day.
With this instability, it is now more important than ever to compare the fees and exchange rates of the different providers sending money to Nigeria, to make sure you get access the best exchange rate possible.
There are now two different market for trading the Naira, the official and the parallel market (or black market), meaning that there are also two different reference exchange rates, the official that is pegged to the USD by the Central Bank of Nigeria, and the parallel market rate.
Only a limited number of money transfer providers are allowed by the Central Bank of Nigeria to offer money transfers to Nigeria, among them some trade on the official market and others on the parallel market, meaning that the exchange rate they will offer to their clients will vary a lot.
To find the best option for your transfer, always refer to the comparison table above by comparing for the exact amount you want to send, in order to make sure to find the current best provider.
A a general rule of thumb, your best guess is to make your transfer via one of the online money transfer provider, like Azimo, Xendpay or WorldRemit. Western Union can also be a good option, as they also give you the possibility to send money from an agent location in the UK, but this generally means you'll pay more fees. Sending money directly by a wire transfer from your bank account in the UK to a bank account in Nigeria is generally a bad idea, as the exchange rate you'll get will be much worse than what other providers are offering.
The Central Bank of Nigeria surprised everyone when it prevented all but three money transfer companies to operate in Nigeria in the beginning of August: Western Union, MoneyGram and Ria. More operators are now allowed to send money to Nigeria. Learn more in this blog post
If you have ever wanted to send money to Nigeria, we bet that you must have come across many ads of banks that were offering the best deal in the market. Cheap transfers, or even sending your money for free, great exchange rate and the speed of light. It sounds alluring, doesn’t it? But the true story behind it might be a bit more complicated. Read our complete guide now for Nigerians living abroad.
Transfers to a bank account
[ ↓ Jump to cash pick-up options ]The 6 best options to transfer GBP to a bank account in Nigeria
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We currently compare 8 different money transfer providers to send money to Nigeria from the United Kingdom.
To send to a bank account in in Nigeria, the most competitive provider currently is Azimo, with zero transfer fees and a very competitive GBP-NGN conversion rate (their current exchange rate is 1 GBP = 458.944 NGN).
In comparison, you would pay a total cost of 29.2 GBP (approximately 8x more expensive) if you wanted to use HSBC to make the same transaction.
For a money transfer to Nigeria, you should also consider two other alternatives to Azimo: Western Union and TransferWise.
You need the money in cash? No problem, we list several money transfer providers able to send in cash in Nigeria: the cheapest provider currently is UK Post Office via Moneygram, with 7.9 GBP for the transfer fees and a good GBP-NGN exchange rate (their current rate is 1 GBP = 297.92 NGN).
When taking the exchange rate and the fees into account, the total cost of your transfer to a cash pick-up location in Nigeria with UK Post Office via Moneygram is 9.74 GBP, in comparison the total cost would be 15.02 GBP if you wanted to use Western Union to make the same transfer.
This recommendation was updated a few minutes ago.
Sending money to Nigeria with low transfer fees and a good exchange rate is not as easy as it might seem, or at least not as easy at it should be.
Recently, Nigeria went through a lot of economical changes, which had a big impact on it currency, the Naira, which has been depreciating against the dollar or the pound. This is a difficult situation for the economy in Nigeria, but it is rather a good news for people sending money to Nigeria, as they get more Nairas for their Pounds than before. But it also created a lot of instability in the currencies market and the Central Bank of Nigeria is intervening on this market to prevent the Naira to fall even more. But because the demand for dollars and other foreign currencies is still very strong in Nigeria, a huge parallel market has emerge, where more than $10M are exchanged every day.
With this instability, it is now more important than ever to compare the fees and exchange rates of the different providers sending money to Nigeria, to make sure you get access the best exchange rate possible.
There are now two different market for trading the Naira, the official and the parallel market (or black market), meaning that there are also two different reference exchange rates, the official that is pegged to the USD by the Central Bank of Nigeria, and the parallel market rate.
Only a limited number of money transfer providers are allowed by the Central Bank of Nigeria to offer money transfers to Nigeria, among them some trade on the official market and others on the parallel market, meaning that the exchange rate they will offer to their clients will vary a lot.
To find the best option for your transfer, always refer to the comparison table above by comparing for the exact amount you want to send, in order to make sure to find the current best provider.
A a general rule of thumb, your best guess is to make your transfer via one of the online money transfer provider, like Azimo, Xendpay or WorldRemit. Western Union can also be a good option, as they also give you the possibility to send money from an agent location in the UK, but this generally means you'll pay more fees. Sending money directly by a wire transfer from your bank account in the UK to a bank account in Nigeria is generally a bad idea, as the exchange rate you'll get will be much worse than what other providers are offering.
The Central Bank of Nigeria surprised everyone when it prevented all but three money transfer companies to operate in Nigeria in the beginning of August: Western Union, MoneyGram and Ria. More operators are now allowed to send money to Nigeria. Learn more in this blog post
If you have ever wanted to send money to Nigeria, we bet that you must have come across many ads of banks that were offering the best deal in the market. Cheap transfers, or even sending your money for free, great exchange rate and the speed of light. It sounds alluring, doesn’t it? But the true story behind it might be a bit more complicated. Read our complete guide now for Nigerians living abroad.
Hi! I'm Pascal and I am in charge of making Monito as helpful as possible for you. Don't hesitate to drop me a line if you have a question, if you need help to understand the results or to find the best operator for your transfer.
Yes. We only list money transfer operators or banks that are fully authorized and monitored by the regulation authorities of the countries where they operate.
Before each international money transfer, you should come and compare the costs of the different options on Monito, as they may have changed. Once you fill out the above form and click on compare, you’ll see a list of all the options to send money between two countries. The cheapest option is at the top, but you may want to consider other criteria such as the speed of transaction or the pay-in or pay-out methods.
Of course! Banks are usually not the best way to make international money transfers. The fees can be quite low (and sometimes even zero), but beware of the poor exchange rates which banks often apply. We list as many banks as possible in our results, so do compare to find out if you’d be better off switching to another bank or a specialized money transfer company.
Monito is not a money transfer company. We’re here to help you find the best way to send money abroad. Just tell us which country you’re sending money from and which country you want to send money to, and we’ll show you a list of all available services. Once you select the best one for your needs, you'll be redirected to their website to get started with your money transfer.
As much as we try to have complete information and to include as many money transfer companies in our results, we sometimes miss a few. In this case, the best solution would be to write us a short message to let us know what’s missing!