WorldRemit clients in Uganda received notice last week that transactions through the digital payments firm that provides international money transfer and remittance services will be suspended. The company operates in over 130 countries and 70 currencies.
The message read “From 6 June, WorldRemit will not be accepting any new money transfers or airtime top-ups from Uganda. From 6 July, WorldRemit will be fully closing money sending services in Uganda, and our relationship with you will come to an end.” This change affects money transfers and airtime top-ups sent from Uganda only. Transfers to Uganda are not impacted by this change.”
This implies that transactions made before June 6, 2022, will be handled normally, and users will continue to get SMS and email updates on the status of their transfers even beyond that date.
This comes as Uganda is included among the top 25 countries on the “Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing” high-risk list for 2022. On March 28, 2022, the list displayed which countries are not following the rules. Uganda also risks being banned by the Financial Action Taskforce (FATF) if the Government does not combat money laundering by May 2022, according to Sydney Asubo, Executive Director of the Finance Intelligence Authority.
Another source says that World Remit is stopping money transfers due to its failure to comply with the recent Central Bank regulation against cryptocurrencies.
However, according to the New Vision, Kasaija Matia, the Minister of Finance declined to comment saying that he cannot comment about something he doesn’t know.
Customers who are unable to access their accounts through the web or app and need to change or cancel their transfers are urged to contact the company’s customer service. If there is any other issue with a customer’s transactions, they will be notified via their email.
Ugandan WorldRemit users can see their previous transactions and recipient information by entering into their accounts on the WorldRemit website. They will, however, be unable to access the WorldRemit app.
According to the organization, user data will continue to be kept securely in compliance with its data privacy policy.
Uganda has joined the list of nations where transactions have been halted, along with Singapore and Russia.