Nigeria's Digital Lifeline: Rewiring the $21 Billion Remittance Market

LAGOS, Nigeria – November 25, 2025 – For millions of Nigerians, the arrival of money from family and friends abroad has long been a process fraught with high fees, anxious delays, and logistical hurdles. But a new alliance is poised to rewire this critical economic lifeline. Global payments firm Thunes and MoMo Payment Service Bank (PSB), the fintech arm of Nigeria’s largest telecom, MTN, have launched a service enabling real-time cross-border payments directly into MoMo mobile wallets. While a press release heralds a new era of convenience, the move signifies something far deeper: a strategic convergence of global infrastructure and local access that could fundamentally alter Nigeria’s $21 billion remittance landscape.

This partnership goes beyond a simple product launch; it represents a direct challenge to the established order of international money transfers and a powerful catalyst for financial inclusion in Africa's largest economy.

A Digital Answer to a Costly Problem

Remittances are the lifeblood of countless Nigerian households and a pillar of the national economy, with official inflows reaching nearly $21 billion in 2024. Yet, accessing these funds has been inefficient and expensive. World Bank data shows that the average cost of sending money to Nigeria hovers around 6.8%, a figure significantly higher than the global average. This “remittance tax,” coupled with exchange rate volatility and the inconvenience of visiting physical payout locations, has long pushed a substantial volume of transfers into informal, unregulated channels.

The Thunes-MoMo PSB collaboration tackles these pain points head-on. By enabling senders in key diaspora markets like the US, UK, and Canada to transfer funds instantly to a recipient’s mobile phone, the service leapfrogs traditional banking infrastructure. For MoMo users, this means funds are not just received instantly but are immediately usable for daily needs—paying bills, buying airtime, or transferring to others within the digital ecosystem.

“Joining the Thunes Direct Global Network allows us to deliver on our commitment to financial inclusion by bringing global remittances directly to our users' fingertips,” said Phrase Lubega, Chief Executive Officer at MoMo PSB, in the official announcement. This direct-to-wallet model is the core of the innovation, transforming a multi-step, often delayed process into a seamless, single-step transaction that empowers the end user.

The Architecture of Disruption

This partnership is a textbook case of strategic symbiosis. Thunes, a Singapore-based firm, operates what it calls a “Smart Superhighway” for money—a B2B network that connects disparate payment systems in over 130 countries. Its model isn't about building a consumer-facing brand, but about providing the critical, behind-the-scenes infrastructure that allows financial institutions, neobanks, and mobile wallet providers to transact with each other seamlessly.

“For our members, by enabling them to send payments into Nigeria, we are opening up access to a vast and growing market with greater ease,” noted Aik Boon Tan, Chief Network Officer at Thunes. By connecting its global network to MoMo PSB, Thunes gains immediate, deep access into the Nigerian market through a trusted, established local player.

On the other side, MoMo PSB leverages its parent company MTN's immense reach. Despite a recent strategic recalibration that saw its active wallet users decline to 2.8 million by the end of 2024, the move was a deliberate pivot towards higher-quality, more engaged customers. The fintech division's revenue continued to grow impressively, rising 23.2% year-on-year in 2024, indicating that its core user base is highly active. By integrating with Thunes, MoMo PSB dramatically enhances its value proposition, moving beyond domestic payments to become a global gateway for its most valuable customers.

Capitalizing on a Shifting Regulatory Tide

The timing of this launch is no coincidence. It aligns perfectly with a series of bold regulatory reforms by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) aimed at liberalizing the foreign exchange market and formalizing remittance inflows. For years, restrictive policies created bottlenecks, but the landscape has shifted dramatically.

In early 2024, the CBN removed the cap on exchange rates quoted by International Money Transfer Operators (IMTOs), allowing them to use market-based, “willing buyer, willing seller” rates. This move was designed to crush the parallel market premium that made informal channels so attractive. Furthermore, the CBN expanded the scope of permissible transactions for IMTOs and streamlined access to Naira liquidity to ensure smooth payouts.

These reforms created the ideal conditions for a tech-driven solution like the one offered by Thunes and MoMo PSB. By operating within this new, more transparent framework, they can offer competitive rates and reliability that directly competes with both informal channels and legacy operators. The partnership is not just an innovation in a vacuum; it is a direct response to a regulatory environment that is now actively encouraging such disruption.

As this digital channel gains traction, it will put immense pressure on traditional money transfer operators like Western Union and MoneyGram, whose business models rely on physical agent networks and higher fee structures. The battle for Nigeria’s remittances is shifting from brick-and-mortar presence to the speed, cost, and convenience of the mobile screen. This alliance is not just a new service; it is a clear signal that the future of money movement in Africa will be defined by global fintech integration and the power of the local mobile wallet.