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 routes 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 route 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 routes than it was even two years ago.
Cross-link
Use the Nigeria inbound route page to see today's landed cost from major sending countries to MTN MoMo PSB, OPay and PalmPay side by side.
Kwame Asante covers the engine room of Ghana's cashless economy: MTN MoMo, Telecel Cash, AirtelTigo Money, and the regulatory tug-of-war between operators and the Bank of Ghana. Working from Accra, he has tracked the E-Levy from its contentious introduction through its 2025 abolition, the MoMo interoperability rollout, and the recurring fee disputes that flare up between telcos and the regulator. He writes for the everyday Ghanaian who wants to know what a transfer actually costs, how the cedi is moving against the dollar, and whether the latest BoG directive will help or hurt their wallet.