Many people have had their 2020 plans ruined by COVID-19, but the cross-border remittance opportunity in Nigeria is even more enticing right now.

The World Bank expects cross-border remittances to drop dramatically in 2020, but many African players are experiencing a sharp increase in digital person-to-person flows as cash is becoming stigmatised. This may turn out to be an opportunity for pulling in the 50% of Nigerians who currently send cash informally.

Are you one of the players who want to enter the Nigerian payments market? More specifically, do you intend to provide cross-border remittance services to the millions of Nigerians who send money to and from their country every day? Perhaps you’ve already identified the market gaps that your solutions solve (if you haven’t, read this) and you are now in the process of understanding how to enter the market from a regulatory point of view.

This note outlines the market opportunity in Nigeria, the regulation to consider as well as the licensing options and requirements and the pros and cons of going solo or partnering up with a bank.

This work forms part of the Risk, Remittances and Integrity programme, a partnership between FSD Africa and Cenfri.