Former international footballer Rio Ferdinand invests in Sokin
Former England footballer Rio Ferdinand has become a shareholder of UK-based payments fintech Sokin.
Sokin CEO, Vroon Modgill, says his team is excited to work with Ferdinand
Ferdinand is branching into technology investment alongside his current role as a sports pundit on BT Sports.
Sokin, his first target, provides fixed-fee, subscription-based payment services for currency exchange.
The fintech is planning to offer customers unlimited international money transfers and payments with no mark-up on transactions from June 2021.
It says its peer-to-peer (P2P) mobile app makes the transaction process easy from the onboarding of customers to instant payments.
Ferdinand says he has seen “first hand” the “power that digital services have brought to broadcasting and social media”.
He adds: “I’m interested in applying the same innovation to financial services. Those working overseas and sending money back to family members and communities have really felt the pandemic.
“They usually opt to use well-known brands to send what spare money they have home, but the process is often time-consuming and expensive.”
FinTech Futures spoke to Sokin CEO Vroon Modgill in 2019. He notes that the firm is capable of serving 150 countries in 30 currencies.
He says Sokin’s £9.99 a month UK plan for limitless transactions would “turn remittances on [its] head”.
On Ferdinand’s investment, Modgill says his team is “thrilled” to work with the former footballer.
“In 2021, there’s absolutely no reason why customers should accept additional – or hidden – commissions, unexplained costs or repeat charges,” he adds.
“We don’t pay for every track we download or each film we stream, yet when we’re sending money or making a payment, we accept unspecified and variable costs.
“This has to change and so we’re changing it, putting transparency at the heart of our service.”
