Dahabshiil Money Transfer Review

Dahabshiil Products for Individuals

 Individual customers can look up their nearest Dahabshiil money transfer agent on the company website and, by submitting details of the beneficiary to the agent, they can send money to recipients based in any of the countries the company operates within. New clients will need to complete a registration form at the agent’s location, a process which requires identification documents for regulatory compliance reasons.

All customers can price their transactions before sending any money upon visiting the agent’s branch office. Customers wishing to send money to recipients in Somaliland or Somali can do so from their smartphones using the company’s ‘eDahab’ service. All customers will receive a receipt from the agent detailing the transaction (amount, sender, recipient details, transfer fee, exchange rate, etc.).

Exchange rates and commission fees are appreciably lower than you’d expect to find with conventional banks, and all transactions are secured end-to-end using a combination of the AML system, Digital certificates, SSL, two factor authentication and other security mechanisms.

Recipients of Dahabshiil’s cross-border payments will typically receive a text message, whereupon they can locate their nearest agent branch office from the company website and collect the money.

Dahabshiil Products for Businesses

 Dahabshiil has developed a rigorous and comprehensive programme for international compliance, encompassing anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism finance programmes which are in place across its entire global network. Businesses and international organisations can have complete confidence that the transactions they make with Dahabshiil will be fully compliant with all regional regulations. The company’s network and its associates are fully licensed and regulated, and are also supervised by the appropriate authorities in every jurisdiction it conducts financial operations within.

As with individual customers, transactions can be priced prior to any transfer of money, and exchange rates and commission fees are significantly lower than those on offer from traditional banks. Dahabshiil’s end-to-end transaction security programmes are exceptionally robust and, for organisations and businesses in regular trade with African countries, it’s the most established international money transfers business on the continent.

About Dahabshiil

 Dahabshiil has been billed as the African version of Western Union. Founded in 1970, it is Africa’s largest international money transfers business and currently boasts three offices globally: Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland (a breakaway province of Somalia), Dubai (where it is headquartered) and London.

Meaning “gold smelter” in Somali, Dahabshiil began as a new remittance enterprise to help migrants send money to friends and family in neighbouring East African countries. It now employs over 2,000 staff across 126 countries, and operates from more than 24,000 outlets. 40 of the countries served are in Africa. Others include Europe, the USA, Canada, Australia and the Middle East. It became the first cross-border payments company to receive full authorisation from the prestigious UK Financial Conduct Authority in 2010.

The company provides money transfer and banking services to both individuals and businesses, as well as to international organisations. The latter include the World Bank, the United Nations, Save the Children and Oxfam, which all depend on Dahabshiil to deliver payment services to their staff, their partner NGOs, their contractors and to government institutions.

Providing bank-beating exchange rates and transfer fees for individual and business customers, it retains a premier position in Africa as a fully compliant and secure cross-border payments business.