The Bank of Sierra Leone's Guidelines on Money Remittance Business, gazetted 17 February 2022, provide at section 13(2) that an amount the Bank determines must terminate into the recipient's bank account or mobile wallet only, and at 13(3) that an amount it determines may, at the recipient's option, be paid over the counter. Neither amount is printed.
Whether the person receiving your money in Sierra Leone can collect it in cash is settled before the transfer arrives, and not by either of you. One subsection of the Bank of Sierra Leone's remittance guidelines sends an amount the Bank determines into a bank account or a mobile money wallet only; the next lets the recipient choose the counter for an amount the Bank determines. Neither prints its figure.
Key Takeaways
- Section 13(2) of the Guidelines on Money Remittance Business provides that an amount the Bank of Sierra Leone determines shall terminate into the recipient's bank account or mobile money wallet only.
- Section 13(3) provides that an amount the Bank determines may, at the recipient's option, be paid over the counter instead.
- Neither subsection prints its amount, and neither says which is the larger. Reading the two together describes a line, and that reading is the guide's rather than the instrument's words.
- If the money goes to a wallet, the E-Money Guidelines decide how much that wallet may hold, by account tier.
- A Tier 1 account can be opened by an agent on three pieces of information, and is capped accordingly. Higher tiers cannot be opened by an agent at all.
What decides whether cash is available at the far end
An instrument published in the Sierra Leone Gazette, and an amount the central bank sets separately from it.
The Guidelines on Money Remittance Business were issued by the Bank of Sierra Leone as Government Notice No. 35 and published in the Gazette of 17 February 2022, under section 53 of the Other Financial Services Act 2001 and the Bank of Sierra Leone Act 2019. Their section 13 is headed "Operational requirements" and has three subsections that matter here.
The first is about speed: disbursement of funds remitted shall be made immediately upon receipt, as instructed by the payer or on demand.
The second and third are about route. Subsection (2) provides that any amount as may be determined by the Bank of Sierra Leone, received or transferred by a money remittance entity for each transaction, shall be terminated into the recipient's bank account or mobile money wallet only. Subsection (3) provides that any amount as may be determined by the Bank, based on the recipient's optional choice, can be paid to the recipient over the counter or transferred into their account or wallet.
Read together, they describe a line. Above it the money has to land in an account or a wallet. Below it the recipient chooses.
What is the threshold in Sierra Leone
The Guidelines do not say, and that is the honest answer.
Both subsections use the same phrase, "as may be determined by the Bank of Sierra Leone", and no figure appears anywhere in section 13. The amount is set by the central bank rather than written into the instrument, so it can move without the Guidelines being reissued.
That is a different design from the one an Australian sender may have met elsewhere. Some countries publish the line in the rule itself. Sierra Leone published the rule and kept the number outside it, which means the practical question, whether this particular transfer can be collected in cash, is answered by the paying institution against a figure the Bank has given it rather than by reading the Guidelines.
What is a Sierra Leonean mobile wallet allowed to hold
The second rule decides that, and it is the reason sending to a wallet is not always the simpler route.
The E-Money Guidelines were gazetted on the same day as the remittance guidelines, under section 49 of the Other Financial Services Act 2001. Their section 16 names five account types: a Tier 1 end-user account described as a small value account for individuals, a Tier 2 intermediate value account, a Tier 3 large value account for qualified individuals, a merchant account and an agent account.
Section 17(1) requires all know-your-customer requirements to be completed before any e-money account is opened, and section 17(2) puts the limits, the identity requirements and the risk-mitigation steps for each account in Schedule A.
For a Tier 1 individual account, Schedule A gives three limits and three identity requirements.
| Tier 1 individual account | Schedule A |
|---|---|
| Single transaction | 50,000 |
| Daily transaction volume | 500,000 |
| Maximum account balance | 500,000 |
| Identity required | Customer name; location of residence; mobile phone number |
The amount column is headed Account Limits (SLL), SLL being the currency code the leone carried before it was redenominated. Of the three limits, the maximum account balance is the one that constrains what a wallet can hold; what happens to an incoming amount that would take a Tier 1 balance past it is not something the Guidelines address.
Those figures are not current amounts. The instrument was gazetted on 17 February 2022, before the leone was redenominated later that year, and the Schedule labels its own column SLL, the code the currency carried then, rather than SLE, the code it carries now. Section 17(2) separately allows the Bank to update Schedule A periodically upon 30 days' notice to e-money issuers. What is durable here is that a ceiling exists and is tied to the account tier. For the currency change itself, see the Australian dollar to leone convert page.
Why the tier is decided at the moment the account is opened
Because the Guidelines say who is allowed to open which one.
Section 18(1) provides that Tier 1 accounts may be opened by an agent, or opened automatically without further review, upon receipt of customer information. That is what makes the smallest account reachable for someone with a phone and no documents, and it is why its ceiling is where it is.
Section 18(2) provides that Tier 2 to 5 accounts may not be opened by an agent, or by any automatic process, but may only be opened after all required information and documentation is received and verified by the e-money issuer. Moving up a tier is therefore a step with the e-money issuer rather than something an agent can do at a counter. The Guidelines set no timetable for it.
Section 18 gives its own figures alongside those: a Tier 1 daily limit of 500,000 and a monthly limit of 2,500,000, and for Tier 2 a daily limit of 1,000,000 and a monthly limit of 5,000,000, in the same pre-redenomination unit. Tier 3 it records as being set by the policies of the financial institution rather than by the Guidelines.
What is the recipient handed, whichever route the money takes
A receipt, and it carries enough detail to settle an argument about what arrived.
This is the part of the rules a sender can act on without knowing the threshold, because it applies either way. Section 15(1) of the remittance guidelines requires a money remittance entity to disclose to its customers the details of the applicable exchange rate, the commission, the fees and any other amount that may be charged by banks or agents involved in a transfer, and to explain the meaning of any technical terms and acronyms used.
Section 16(2) requires it to issue receipts for all financial transactions and to maintain a register showing the names of the beneficiary and the sender, the remittance amount, the date of remittance and the date of payment. Both the sender's name and the recipient's are recorded against the same entry.
What that receipt has to contain is set separately, by the Financial Consumer Protection Guidelines 2022. Their section 6.3(2) requires a financial services provider, after a customer makes a transaction, to give a written receipt free of charge naming the provider, the agent's unique identification number where applicable, the amount, date, time and nature of the transaction, a unique transaction reference number, a breakdown of all fees and charges, and the remaining account balance.
Where to look next
Sending money to the UAE from Australia covers the other well-documented case of a recipient without a bank account, where the beneficiary record required of a registered operator carries no account-number field at all. How international transfers work sets out the sequence a payment moves through and where it can be held. For the live figures, see the Australian dollar to Sierra Leonean leone page.
Sources
- Bank of Sierra Leone, Guidelines on Money Remittance Business, Government Notice No. 35, Sierra Leone Gazette 17 February 2022 - section 13 operational requirements, including immediate disbursement, the Bank-determined amount that terminates into an account or wallet only, and the separate Bank-determined amount the recipient may elect to take over the counter; section 15 disclosure; section 16 receipts and the register of beneficiary and sender
- Bank of Sierra Leone, E-Money Guidelines, Sierra Leone Gazette 17 February 2022 - issued under section 49 of the Other Financial Services Act 2001; section 16 account types, section 17 on Schedule A and the 30 days' notice to update it, section 18 on who may open which tier, and Schedule A's Tier 1 limits and identity requirements
- Bank of Sierra Leone, Financial Consumer Protection Guidelines 2022, Sierra Leone Gazette Extraordinary 8 April 2022 - section 6.3(2), the written receipt a financial services provider must give after a transaction, naming the provider, the agent's unique identification number where applicable, the amount, date, time and nature of the transaction, a unique reference number, a breakdown of fees and the remaining balance
General information about sending money to Sierra Leone and about the rules that govern how it is paid out. Not financial advice, and not a recommendation of any product or institution. Reviewed by the Tradergy editorial team, September 2026.
Common questions
Can money sent to Sierra Leone be collected in cash?
Sometimes. Section 13(3) of the Bank of Sierra Leone's Guidelines on Money Remittance Business provides that any amount as may be determined by the Bank can, at the recipient's option, be paid over the counter or transferred into their bank account or mobile wallet. Section 13(2) provides that an amount the Bank determines shall terminate into the account or wallet only. Neither subsection prints its amount, and neither says which is the larger.
How quickly must a remittance be paid out in Sierra Leone?
Section 13(1) of the same Guidelines provides that disbursement of funds remitted shall be made immediately upon receipt as instructed by the payer or on demand. The Guidelines were issued as Government Notice No. 35 in the Sierra Leone Gazette of 17 February 2022, under section 53 of the Other Financial Services Act 2001 and the Bank of Sierra Leone Act 2019.
Is there a limit on what a Sierra Leonean mobile wallet can hold?
Yes, and it depends on the account tier. The Bank of Sierra Leone's E-Money Guidelines, gazetted on 17 February 2022, put transaction limits and identity requirements for each account type in Schedule A. For a Tier 1 individual account the Schedule gives a single transaction limit of 50,000, a daily transaction volume of 500,000 and a maximum account balance of 500,000, in a column headed Account Limits (SLL). Those figures are in the pre-redenomination unit the Schedule names and are not current amounts.
Why can a Tier 1 account be opened so easily in Sierra Leone?
Because the identity requirement is small and so is the ceiling. Schedule A asks for three things for a Tier 1 individual account: customer name, location of residence and mobile phone number. Section 18(1) provides that Tier 1 accounts may be opened by an agent, or opened automatically without further review, upon receipt of customer information. Section 18(2) provides that Tier 2 to 5 accounts may not be opened by an agent or by any automatic process.
Are the Sierra Leone e-money limits still the same figures today?
The figures are not current amounts. Schedule A heads its column Account Limits (SLL) and the instrument was gazetted on 17 February 2022, before the leone was redenominated later that year. Section 17(2) also allows the Bank to update Schedule A periodically upon 30 days' notice to e-money issuers. What is durable is the tier structure, not the numbers printed in 2022.