Fintech Grey, founded to help Nigerian remote workers receive dollars, has been granted International Money Transfer Operator (IMTO) approval by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The authorisation, made public in early November 2026, applies only to money coming into the country. Yet, according to Condia, it gives the company direct access to the inbound remittance market and control over payouts in naira.
What the licence allows, and what it prohibits
According to Techeconomy and TechTrendsKE, the approval covers transfers from abroad, whether sent person to person, business to person or business to business, within the framework set by the CBN. Condia stresses the boundary: an IMTO receives funds sent from outside Nigeria and pays them to the beneficiary in local currency, nothing more. The rules revised in January 2024, Technext notes, require payouts in naira only, exclude outbound transfers and prohibit holding domestic deposits.
Neither the exact approval date nor the licence number has been disclosed. Chief executive and co-founder Idorenyin Obong sees it, according to Techeconomy, as “an important milestone” for the company in the country, and reiterates that compliance is at the heart of how Grey builds its services.
Why now: a dollar-based model running out of steam
The timing is no coincidence. The approval comes a few days after 29 October, when Grey unveiled Paycheck, a product for professionals paid in foreign currency, according to Condia. That same day, at the Moonshot conference in Lagos, the company announced, according to Technext, more than three million users, nearly $5 billion in payments processed and volumes up 170% year on year. Condia adds that Paycheck’s savings feature is already live and that credit will be rolled out in stages.
Technext places the announcement in an exchange-rate context that has reversed direction. Between late 2021 and February 2024, the dollar soared on the parallel market, from 569 to around 1,850 naira: keeping one’s earnings in foreign currency in an app was profitable at the time. Since February 2025 the trend has reversed, and the greenback was worth around 1,370 to 1,390 naira in October 2026. With naira savings accounts paying up to 16% and the Lagos stock exchange rising sharply in 2026 (the NGX index up 59% over the year, according to Technext), many employees convert their pay as soon as it arrives. The revenue platforms earned from idle dollar balances is shrinking accordingly.
Owning the regulated link where funds arrive then makes it possible, according to Technext’s analysis, to reduce friction tied to third-party payment providers and to take a margin on that segment, even when the user converts immediately.
A $22.8 billion market and plenty of competition
The stakes are measurable: citing World Bank data, Techeconomy puts personal remittances received by Nigeria in 2025 at around $22.8 billion. Grey is not entering alone. Condia notes that the CBN’s list of approved IMTOs had 108 names in 2025, compared with around fifteen a decade earlier, and that other fintechs in the same niche got there first: Raenest in July 2024 and Cleva in March 2025.
The cost of entry has also changed. Again according to Condia, the January 2024 reform lowered the minimum capital required of foreign operators to $1 million, whereas the old threshold was around 2 billion naira, but it raised the application fee from 500,000 to 10 million naira, added an annual renewal of the same amount and introduced a two-stage approval process.
The infrastructure pitch, and its limits
At Moonshot, Idorenyin Obong had argued for African fintechs to own more of the payments plumbing. “We have enough wallets,” he said, according to TechTrendsKE, lamenting that African money still passes through New York or London before reaching a neighbouring country. The Nigerian licence is a first piece of that strategy; Grey already holds registrations with FinCEN in the United States and FINTRAC in Canada.
Its scope should nonetheless be kept in perspective. The approval covers only the inbound direction: it does not address transfers out of Nigeria, which the 2024 rules prohibit IMTOs from handling. No launch timetable and no numerical target tied to the licence have been published, and the share of its volumes that Grey will route through this new channel remains unknown.
Frequently asked questions
What is an IMTO licence in Nigeria?
It is the Central Bank of Nigeria approval that authorises a company to receive funds sent from abroad and pay them out to beneficiaries in naira. Since January 2024, it excludes outbound transfers and the holding of local deposits.
What does the licence change for Grey users?
According to Technext’s analysis, the company will be able to control the regulated link where funds arrive in naira itself and reduce friction tied to third-party payment providers. It has not announced any price cut or go-live date, so these effects remain to be seen.
Is Grey the only fintech with this approval?
No. Raenest and Cleva obtained it in 2024 and 2025, and the CBN list had 108 licensed operators in 2025, according to Condia.
Sources
- Grey secures IMTO licence as Nigeria's remittance sector gets new competition — Condia, 2026-11-02
- Grey Secures IMTO License from CBN — Techeconomy, 2026-11-02
- Grey secures CBN IMTO approval to formalise inbound remittance rails in Nigeria — Technext, 2026-11-03
- Grey secures CBN licence to process remittances into Nigeria — TechTrendsKE, 2026-11-03