What was announced
MTN MoMo Payment Service Bank (PSB) confirmed an expansion of its existing Thunes connector that now lets a Nigerian MoMo wallet directly receive money from senders across more than 100 originating countries — without going through an intermediate bank account.
The expanded coverage adds high-volume diaspora corridors that were previously two-step (sender → partner bank → MoMo PSB), removing one hop and one fee.
Why this matters
Nigeria received an estimated US $20+ billion in remittances in 2024. The vast majority traditionally landed in a USD or naira bank account before being moved to a mobile wallet. The Thunes integration lets senders push funds straight to a MoMo PSB wallet, where the recipient can spend, withdraw at an OPay/PalmPay agent, or transfer onward.
Compare with PalmPay and OPay, which already offer their own international inbound rails. The MoMo PSB Thunes route is positioned as a competitive challenger to the established fintech wallets that have dominated the Nigerian inbound corridor since 2022.
About Thunes
Thunes is a Singapore-headquartered cross-border payments hub founded in 2016 that connects banks, wallets, and remittance providers into a single API. By 2025 the network reportedly covered 130+ countries and 80+ mobile money operators across Africa, Asia and Latin America. For Nigerian inbound flows the partnership turns Thunes into the on-ramp from a long list of originating providers — Wise, Remitly, Sendwave, WorldRemit, LemFi, TapTap Send, Western Union, MoneyGram and others — that can settle directly into a MTN MoMo PSB wallet.
Tier requirements on the receiving side
To receive international inbound via MoMo PSB, the recipient wallet typically needs to be at least Tier 2 KYC, which requires a valid BVN (Bank Verification Number) and a registered ID document. Tier 1 wallets, which support only domestic P2P and have low caps, are not eligible for the inbound rail. MTN MoMo Nigeria offers an in-app KYC upgrade flow that can complete the Tier 2 process within minutes for users with a valid BVN.
Cost
Inbound fees on the wallet side stay at zero — MTN does not charge the recipient for receiving. The originating fee depends on the sending provider (Wise, Remitly, Sendwave, WorldRemit, LemFi, TapTap Send, etc.). See the send-to-Nigeria page for an updated comparison.
FX rate context
Inbound USD or GBP remittances landing in a MoMo PSB wallet are converted at the operator's rate at the moment of settlement. Following the CBN's 2023 NAFEM unification of the official and parallel naira windows, the official USD-NGN rate is now within 1%-3% of the parallel market for retail flows — a sharp narrowing from the 30%-60% gaps that prevailed pre-unification. This makes the formal MoMo PSB route materially more competitive against informal hand-to-hand FX corridors than it was even two years ago.
Cross-link
Use the Nigeria inbound corridor page to see today's landed cost from major sending countries to MTN MoMo PSB, OPay and PalmPay side by side.