AI agents for business finance: what they can and can't do
What AI agents can do in bookkeeping, close, collections and compliance today, where a person must stay in charge, and how to judge a product.
The short answer
Money transfer apps usually move money as two local payments: they collect your pounds in the UK through Faster Payments, which Pay.UK says runs day and night all year, and pay your recipient in Nigeria through NIBSS Instant Payment, which credits in real time. A bank SWIFT payment instead travels bank to bank through correspondents, which Barclays says usually takes one to two working days and can attract intermediary charges.
You send from your bank on a Monday morning and it lands in Lagos on Wednesday. Your cousin sends through an app at lunchtime and her mother has the naira before the tea is cold. Both used real banks and regulated firms. The difference is the plumbing.
Two ways money crosses the border
The app model: local in, local out
A money transfer app holds money in both countries. When you pay it, your pounds arrive in its UK account, often by Faster Payments or a card payment. It then pays your recipient out of money it already holds in Nigeria, through a Nigerian bank partner. The two sides are settled between the app and its partners separately, in bulk. Monzo describes its own NGN payments the same way: sent as local transfers through NIBSS Instant Payments with partner banks, with most arriving in seconds and nearly all within six hours (checked October 2026).
The bank model: one payment, many hands
A SWIFT payment is a single instruction that passes from your bank to the recipient's bank, often through one or more correspondent banks that hold accounts for each other. Each step can add time and, sometimes, a deduction. Barclays says most international payments arrive in one to two working days and that intermediary banks may charge.
The systems in each country
| System | Where | What its operator says (checked Oct 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Faster Payments | UK | Pay.UK: real-time payments, "available day and night, 365 days per year", up to £1m, with individual bank limits varying; 5.55 billion transactions in 2025 |
| NIBSS Instant Payment (NIP) | Nigeria | NIBSS: account-number-based real-time transfers; the sending institution can check beneficiary details before paying; funds available in real time before settlement |
| SWIFT | Cross-border | Swift (2020 data): 92% of gpi payments credited within 24 hours, 40% within 30 minutes; the UK-to-US route was faster than average |
The SWIFT figures show that bank payments are faster than their reputation, especially on major routes. Routes into Nigeria often involve more steps and cut-off times, which is where the extra days come from.
Where the time actually goes
- Bank cut-off times and working days. Starling, for example, says it processes international payments from 02:00 Monday to 22:00 Friday, not at weekends or on bank holidays. A Friday evening SWIFT payment can wait until Monday.
- Correspondent hops. Each correspondent bank processes the payment on its own schedule and in its own time zone.
- Checks. Both models run compliance checks. A held app transfer can take longer than a smooth SWIFT one.
- Funding. An app transfer paid by bank only starts once the app has received and matched your Faster Payment. Use the exact reference it gives you.
Worked example (illustrative only)
Example: on a Friday at 9pm, Uche sends £400 from his bank by SWIFT to his sister's account in Port Harcourt, and Ifeoma sends £400 through an app, paying by bank transfer. Uche's bank has passed its processing window for the week, so his payment leaves on Monday and is credited when the correspondent chain and the Nigerian bank have processed it, perhaps Tuesday or Wednesday. Ifeoma's Faster Payment reaches the app within moments because the UK system runs every day; once the app has matched it and finished its checks, it pays out through NIP from its Nigerian funds, and her mother can see the naira that evening. The timings are examples; each provider shows its own expected delivery time before you send.
What this means at weekends and on holidays
Faster Payments keeps running at weekends and on bank holidays, and NIP is a real-time system, so an app with funds on both sides can often pay out on a Sunday. Banks that send by SWIFT generally work on business days only. If a payment must arrive by a date in Nigeria, either use a route that runs at weekends or send a working day or two early by SWIFT. See sending on a Sunday or bank holiday.
Cost differences follow the same logic
Because a SWIFT payment can lose deductions on the way, banks offer charge options: Barclays describes OUR (you pay all charges, with an optional overseas bank charge), SHA (shared) and BEN (charges taken from the amount). An app usually shows a single fee and rate up front, because it controls both ends. Compare total cost, not speed alone: see FX margins explained and how long a UK to Nigeria transfer takes.
When SWIFT is still the right tool
- Sending foreign currency to a domiciliary account, which remittance apps do not generally do. See sending pounds to a dom account.
- Very large sums where your bank's limit is higher than an app's.
- Business payments that need a bank-to-bank trail.
For the Nigerian side of the picture, the Nigeria library explains how remittances flow into Nigeria.
Where Pryme fits
A Pryme account works on the local-in, local-out model: you receive pounds into your own UK account details, convert with Swap when you choose, and send naira to Nigerian accounts. The app shows the rate and the fee before you approve. See how it works.
Questions people ask
Why is my bank transfer to Nigeria slower than an app?
Banks send one SWIFT payment through correspondent banks; apps collect locally in the UK and pay out locally in Nigeria from money they already hold there.
Is Faster Payments available for international transfers?
Faster Payments is the UK's domestic system. Apps use it to collect your pounds, then pay out through Nigerian systems such as NIP.
How long does a SWIFT payment to Nigeria take?
Barclays says most of its international payments arrive in one to two working days. Routes with more correspondent steps can take longer.
Do SWIFT payments lose money on the way?
They can. Intermediary banks may deduct charges unless you choose to pay all charges (OUR).
Sources
- Pay.UK: Faster Payment System · accessed Oct 2026
- NIBSS: NIBSS Instant Payment (modified 17 Apr 2026) · accessed Oct 2026
- Swift: Swift gpi driving payments revolution (7 Oct 2020) · accessed Oct 2026
- Barclays: International payments · accessed Oct 2026
- Monzo Help: Sending NGN payments · accessed Oct 2026
- Starling Bank: International payments country fees · accessed Oct 2026
This article is general information, not financial, legal or tax advice. Products described are provided under the terms on this site and are subject to regulation and eligibility.