Published by Jessica Weisman-Pitts
Posted on April 1, 2022
6 min readLast updated: February 8, 2026
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By Philipp Buschmann CEO and Co-Founder of AAZZUR
Traditionally cross border payments have been known to be cumbersome and unsecure. For the many thousands of people who live abroad and send money home, cross-border payments are the norm, but for recipients in developing countries, they can be fraught with difficulties.
The remittance market is huge and for developing countries the value of the payments made are vital as they are used to purchase food, clothing, and other much-needed necessities which all fund local economies and are an important source of much-needed funds for that country’s GDP.
Due to the significance of the cross-border payments to many developing countries, there must be a way to make the process simpler and more secure. One such company looking to improve this area is ATMEN, the first Black-British-owned digital neobanking company. ATMEN’s primary focus is to address the lack of inclusion in minority and diaspora communities. Their aim is to empower people by serving as a gateway to education and technologies that are vital to the future of finances.
For the western world, we are privileged to be able to access financial literacy and can easily access financial services and banks whenever we need to, but for the developing world, people have a very different relationship with the financial world, and this is what makes receiving funds so difficult.
ATMEN’s focus is to create a platform that is fairer and more inclusive for better-connected banking in these developing countries. They want to connect the diaspora community around the globe, especially when it comes to sending money across borders, and are working on how this can be done more easily and securely.
The remittance market is a perfect example of the problems they are solving as it is heavily driven by the diaspora community but at the same time, there are many risks involved especially on the receiving end. ATMEN will provide the connections in countries that are developing and bring financial services to both sides to simplify the process.
Already their progress is being seen globally with ATMEN currently accepted in 210 countries and able to be used in 150 currencies.
This digital platform will operate as a prepaid card and spending can be done on a digital or physical card. Clients will have a Euro-dominated account, but ATMEN also allow for use in an extensive range of currencies including USD, GBP, NOK, DKK and SEK.
This advancement of integrating financial services into developing countries has been made possible by fintech and more specifically embedded finance. Fintech solutions such as smart financial blocks from AAZZUR has allowed ATMEN to build an app to their specifications while offering value for money to their customers and with the ability to scale and grow.
Marvyn Smith, CEO of ATMEN comments, “ATMEN will benefit the end customer in many ways. The most important for us was the cost side of the business model with a global perspective. When it comes to using platforms, particularly in the remittance space, you end up having to pass on most of the cost to customers. This is not the case with AAZZUR as they are ‘customer problem’ focused, interested in building something user-friendly, operational and progressive. Working with AAZZUR will allow us to pass those savings on to our customers, especially those in developing economies that are difficult to get into.
“Often it is a conversation to have on both sides of the borders when looking at compliance and cross-border remittances, along with regulations and having a foothold in certain regions. In building the neobank, we have spoken with central banks and the countries we want to operate in and also with partner banks and in some cases we have had to operate under licenses. Pricing from AAZZUR gives us the option to keep costs low on both sides and this is something that is really important to the diaspora community.”
Embedded finance will be the new frontier of financial services in developing countries and will allow a greater uptake and education around finances for everyone globally, no matter their background, gender, race, social status or heritage. It will allow accounts and services to talk to one another and enable frictionless payments from and to anywhere, while seamlessly offering add-ons and re-bundled services at the point of need, simultaneously engaging and protecting users in the process.
All of these things combined are driving real change in the banking landscape and are pushing the uptake of embedded finance globally and the impact is predicted to be huge with embedded finance reaching a possible €6.3 Trillion over the next ten years.
Marvyn concludes, “AAZZUR are building relationships with banking providers which is a major game-changer for the industry. They are in it to make a difference to the user experience rather than the bottom line.”
About Philipp Buschmann, Co-Founder and CEO at AAZZUR
Philipp Buschmann is co-Founder and CEO at AAZZUR, a one-stop-shop for smart embedded finance experience. Recognised as a rising star in the FinTech space, AAZZUR’s mission is to build profitable banking whilst at the same time empowering consumers to have access to better informed financial choices.
Philipp is a serial entrepreneur with extensive experience of working in Challenger Banking, Financial Services, IT and Energy across the world. He took one of his businesses public – Ignis Petroleum was publicly listed in the US and Germany.
Having started as a developer in Financial Services, Philipp has first-hand experience of the banking revolution from both a technology and financial perspective. His interest in behavioural economics helped inspire AAZZUR’s revolutionary work on customer centricity in banking.
About AAZZUR
AAZZUR build better and smarter banking with a one-stop-shop for embedded finance. Their data-driven embedded finance experience platform enables businesses and banks to better understand and support their customers by offering them tailored financial services as and when they actually want and need them. All seamlessly handled via AAZZUR’s smart integration within just one app.
From budgeting tools to insurance and carbon offset programmes, AAZZUR’s capabilities include personalising existing mobile and/or web apps with smart embedded finance blocks. This ecosystem of services can help challenger banks to create loyalty, increase revenue and ultimately become a valuable and profitable business. AAZZUR is also helping neobanks and businesses to create entirely new mobile banking apps from scratch within weeks thanks to their modular smart platform.
Website – www.aazzur.com
Remittance is the transfer of money, often by a foreign worker, back to their home country, typically to support family members or for other personal reasons.
Fintech, short for financial technology, refers to the integration of technology into offerings by financial services companies to improve their use of financial services.
Financial inclusion is the process of ensuring access to financial services for all individuals, particularly those who are underserved or excluded from the traditional financial system.
Embedded finance refers to the integration of financial services into non-financial platforms, allowing businesses to offer financial products directly within their existing services.
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