Atlantic Money lands regulatory approval to expand money transfer services to North America and Australia
UK fintech start-up Atlantic Money is to pursue an expansion of its fixed-fee money transfer services in the US, Canada and Australia having received the necessary regulatory approvals.
Atlantic Money to expand into US, Canada and Australia
The fintech says it will operate individual and business services in Canada as a foreign money services business licenced with the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC), and as an independent remittance dealer in Australia licenced with the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC).
Likewise, it intends to power the US entry of its business services through a sponsorship with a “federally regulated US bank”, having successfully registered as a federal money services business with the country’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).
Based in London, Atlantic Money first debuted in the UK and Europe in 2022 after being approved as a payments institution with the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the National Bank of Belgium, and currently claims to serve 10,000 customers across 32 countries worldwide.
Backed by investors including Amplo, Ribbit Capital, Index Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, 20VC, Day One Ventures, Nordstar and Elefund – which enabled it to secure $7.5 million in seed funding – the fintech seeks to compete with the likes of Remitly and Wise by enabling users to transfer up to $1 million at a flat fixed fee of $3.79. It says the median amount transferred through its app is $3,788.
Commenting on its expansion plans, Neeraj Baid, CEO and co-founder of Atlantic Money, describes landing the necessary approvals in the “major regions” of the US, Canada and Australia as “central to our mission of serving customers with reliable, secure fixed fee transfers”, and expresses his enthusiasm at having “gained these approvals so quickly”. By comparison, UK-based Wise was founded in 2011, but didn’t succeed in tapping the US market until 2019.
Atlantic Money is now expected to focus its efforts on preparing to roll out its services but is yet to confirm an exact date for when this will happen.
