Sending money from South Africa to Nigeria

The World Bank surveyed 9 providers on this corridor. On R1,370 the cheapest costs -0.40% of what you send and the dearest 34.64%. Enter your own amount below — the ranking changes with it.

Every provider, ranked at R1,370

The fee and the exchange-rate margin are shown separately on purpose. A transfer advertised as "no fee" can still be the expensive one, because the margin is where the cost hides.

A cost below zero is not a mistake. On competitive corridors a provider will occasionally pay a better exchange rate than the mid-market benchmark and charge no fee, so you receive slightly more than the benchmark says you should. It is a promotional position rather than a permanent one, and it is the first thing to change between surveys.

Banks, transfer operators and mobile money

Who you send with matters more than anything else about the transfer. Median cost by provider type, on R1,370:

• Bank — 23.52% (2 providers surveyed)
• Bank / Money Transfer Operator — 9.73% (1 provider surveyed)
• Money Transfer Operator — 6.44% (6 providers surveyed)

That ordering is for R1,370 and does not necessarily hold at your amount. Where a provider charges a flat fee, it is punishing on a small transfer and forgettable on a large one — which is enough to reverse the order entirely. The ranked table above is the one computed at your amount; this one is not.

How to read these numbers

The cost of a transfer is the fee plus the margin the provider takes on the exchange rate. The margin is invisible at the counter: you are quoted a rate, not the difference between that rate and the interbank one, so a "free" transfer can quietly cost more than one with a fee attached. Both are separated in the table above.

Percentages fall as the amount rises wherever a provider charges a flat fee, which is why the same provider can be the cheapest at one amount and not at another. That is exactly what the calculator is for — the ranking above is computed at your amount, not at a fixed one.

Source: The World Bank, Remittance Prices Worldwide, available at https://remittanceprices.worldbank.org — survey period 2025 Q1, field-collected to 11 March 2025. Licensed CC BY 4.0. These are surveyed benchmark costs from a dated quarterly study, not live quotes, and providers change pricing between surveys — check the current cost with the provider before you send. The World Bank does not endorse this use of its data. This is general information, not financial advice.