Bujeti Takes Control of USD Card FX Pricing and Treasury

In Short

Bujeti says it has taken direct control of its USD card treasury and FX pricing. The company says this reduced FX conversion costs and helped lift USD card usage.

What Happened

Bujeti said it changed how it funds and prices its USD card after customers complained that converting naira to dollars was too expensive.

The company said its old exchange rate was about 4% to 5% above the mid-market rate, which is the rough “fair” rate you see on global FX trackers. Customers compared that with non-bank fintechs charging closer to 1% to 2%, and many stopped using the card.

Bujeti said the high rate was not generating profit for it. Instead, its USD card provider sourced the dollars and set the exchange rate, and Bujeti passed that cost through.

To fix this, Bujeti said it started running its own treasury. Treasury here means the internal function that manages money, liquidity (available cash), and currency exposure. It also means taking on some FX risk, which is the risk that exchange rates move against you while you hold dollars.

Bujeti said it now sources USD liquidity directly from USD holders who want to convert dollars to naira for local operations. It then sets its own FX rate using a cost-plus approach, its weighted average dollar cost plus a spread, and benchmarks that against competitors.

The company added that it manages risk by buying dollars in small, frequent batches and selling through quickly, so it does not hold large USD balances for long.

Why It Matters

USD cards are a common tool for African businesses paying for software subscriptions, ad spend, and overseas suppliers. But adoption often depends on one number, the FX conversion cost.

Bujeti said that after the change, monthly USD card spend grew by roughly 3x over 90 days. It also said the share of cardholders actively using their cards rose from 18% to the mid-20s, though it noted the active user base is still small and concentrated.

If the approach scales, owning treasury could let Bujeti compete better on pricing and also earn revenue from the spread it sets, instead of letting a third-party provider capture that value.