OP Finnfund Global Impact Fund I invests in TerraPay to boost access to international remittances in Africa

OP Finnfund Global Impact Fund I, the first Finnish global emerging markets impact fund, invests in TerraPay to boost access to affordable remittances and support livelihoods and business activity in countries across Africa. The investment is part of a 75 million US dollar financing package that includes a 30 million US dollar loan from IFC, a B Loan of 15 million US dollars provided by impact investor ILX, and a combined parallel loan of 30 million US dollars from OP Finnfund Global Impact Fund I and Belgian BIO.

“We are very glad to take part in this transaction, which is OP Finnfund Global Impact Fund I’s first investment in African fast-growing fintech sector and enables small-size payments to be executed in real-time to African and Asian low and middle income countries,” says Tuomas Virtala, Head of OP Asset Management.

TerraPay streamlines the remittance process by integrating and connecting major markets and money transfer operators such as Western Union, MoneyGram, and Ria, supporting household incomes, small businesses, and contributing to overall economic development.
The financing will help TerraPay expand its operations by partnering with more global money transfer operators and by increasing the volume of transfers it processes across Africa. The expansion will help reduce the marginal cost, and speed and simplify international remittance transfers.

“Improving the payments infrastructure is one of our priorities as the cost of remittances to developing markets remains expensive and well above the UN Sustainable Development Goals target of 3%,” says Kuutti Kilpeläinen, Head of Digital Infrastructure and Solutions at Finnfund. “Digitalisation of remittances is seen as the key driver for reducing the cost. With our investment in TerraPay we aim to address the affordability of cross-border remittances which will support financial inclusion and economic development in emerging countries.”

Media contact:
Valpuri Mäkinen, Communications and Marketing Manager, Valpuri.makinen@finnfund.fi, tel. +358 50 384 2105

Other information:
Kuutti Kilpeläinen, Head of Digital Infrastructure and Solutions, kuutti.kilpelainen@finnfund.fi, tel. +358 44 013 1291

About OP Finnfund Global Impact Fund I
OP Finnfund Global Impact Fund I is the first global emerging markets impact fund in Finland. The fund targets significant positive impacts in addition to financial return. The first two rounds of funding have raised a total of EUR 135 million. OP Asset Management Ltd, part of OP Financial Group, one of the largest banking groups in Finland, acts as a portfolio manager for the fund and OP Fund Management Company Ltd acts as an alternative investment fund manager of the fund. Finnfund, a Finnish development financier and impact investor acts as an anchor investor and advisor to the fund.