Shoprite Cross-border Remittance Product Reaches R1bn in Lesotho

The Shoprite cross-border money remittance product reached R1 billion, roughly 70 million mark in January, after just three years of it being implemented between South Africa and Lesotho. The cost of a transfer of R900 is 2%, which is one of the cheapest cross-border products in the world.

The remittance is used by people who send money to friends and families living in other countries. The Shoprite cross-border remittance service allows customers to send money directly to any Shoprite store in choice destinations for the receiver to cash out from. This service is available in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Lesotho.

These transfers are economically significant to the countries that receive them. For Lesotho, remittances play a critical role in supporting the families of migrants back home. Approximately 70% of recipients are women, who have been given a safe and affordable way to receive money transferred from relatives working in South Africa.

“Before Shoprite came, I used to receive money through a bank. I had an account there. But I changed because the bank was too expensive. We were sharing the money with them,” said a woman in the Shoprite queue in Lesotho. By sharing she meant the bank charges were comparatively high.

FinMark Trust partnered with Shoprite, the Ministry of Finance Lesotho, the Central Bank of Lesotho (CBL) and the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) to make this possible. FinMark Trust’s project is funded by DFID (Department for International Development).

Given the success of the remittance product in Lesotho, FinMark Trust is currently working on replicating it in the Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique and Eswatini corridors.