A new partnership between Singapore-based payments giant Thunes and MoMo PSB, the fintech arm of MTN Nigeria, is bringing instant cross-border payments to one of Africa’s largest mobile wallet ecosystems.
Starting this week, Nigerians can receive money from family and friends in the US, UK, Canada, France, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and South Africa, and use it immediately.
No bank queues. No collection agents. No two-day clearing windows. Just instant access to funds that can be spent on airtime, bill payments, or everyday commerce the moment they land.
The single-hop advantage
Nigeria’s remittance market is crowded. Apps like LemFi, SendCash, Africhange, Wise, and WorldRemit have carved out a space in the $20.9 billion annual inflow that the World Bank recorded in 2024. This is a 9% jump from the previous year. So what makes this corridor different?
According to Aik Boon Tan, Chief Network Officer at Thunes, it’s about cutting out the middlemen.
“Many players sit in different parts of the value chain. Some are consumer apps, others are networks, others are payout channels,” Tan explains. “Thunes and MoMo form a direct settlement corridor with MTN as the receiving entity. By removing the intermediary layers that typically sit between sender and wallet, this corridor delivers real advantages.”
The result is what Tan calls a “single-hop international route” into one of Nigeria’s biggest wallet ecosystems. Transfers are clear in real time. The connection to MTN MoMo provides stability and predictability that multi-layered routes often can’t match.
During the soft-launch phase, the difference became tangible. In one example Tan shared, a sender in South Africa initiated a mobile-to-MoMo transfer through a partner connected to Thunes.
The money arrived in the Nigerian recipient’s wallet within seconds.
“The recipient was able to use the funds immediately for day-to-day wallet payments, without waiting for any clearance or needing to cash out,” Tan says. “Over the days that followed, the funds continued to circulate naturally within their MoMo activity, replacing what would otherwise have required slower bank transfers or physical cash pickup.”
That speed matters. When rent is due, or an emergency strikes, the difference between instant and next-day can be the difference between crisis and calm.
MoMo PSB, as a subsidiary of MTN, Nigeria’s largest mobile network operator, already reaches millions of users across the country. The platform offers payments, e-commerce, insurance, and now, seamless international remittances.
For CEO Phrase Lubega, joining the Thunes Direct Global Network represents a commitment to deeper financial inclusion.
“Millions of Nigerians can now receive funds from friends, family, and professional networks abroad instantly and securely,” Lubega says. “MoMo PSB can provide a cost-effective, transparent, and reliable way for users to access global financial flows, helping them participate more fully in the digital economy.”
Thunes, for its part, operates a Direct Global Network spanning over 130 countries and 80 currencies, connecting more than 7 billion mobile wallets and bank accounts worldwide. The company’s mission is to enable the next billion users in emerging markets to access the global economy, and Nigeria, with its fast-growing digital landscape, sits squarely in that vision.
What comes next in the remittance market?
Could MoMo PSB eventually become the dominant receiving hub for virtually all international wallet inflows into Nigeria, potentially bringing competitors like OPay, PalmPay, and Moniepoint onto the same rails?
Tan keeps the focus narrow. “Our focus right now is on successfully scaling the Thunes–MTN MoMo corridor to deliver real value to end users and partners,” he says. “We’re continually bringing new Members to the Thunes Direct Global Network.”
For now, the MTN MoMo-Thunes remittance promise is simple: money that moves at the speed of need. For millions of Nigerians navigating the realities of rent, tuition, healthcare, and daily survival, that’s not just convenience, it’s possibility, arriving in real time.
