Grey Gets CBN IMTO Licence for Inbound Remittances

In Short

Grey has secured an International Money Transfer Operator (IMTO) licence from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). An IMTO licence allows a company to receive money sent from abroad and pay it out to recipients in Nigeria in naira.

What Happened: How Grey Can Now Handle Inbound Remittances

Grey is a Nigerian cross-border fintech. It has secured an IMTO licence from the CBN.

The company said the approval gives it a direct route into the inbound remittance market as it widens its cross-border services. The IMTO licence only covers inbound transfers.

The licence news follows the launch of Paycheck, which Grey unveiled on October 29. Grey said Paycheck is built for professionals who earn in foreign currencies and want to manage their income in one place. Savings is live, and credit is expected to follow in phases.

Grey also said it serves more than 3 million users in 70 countries. The company is registered with FinCEN in the United States and FINTRAC in Canada.

Why It Matters: A Crowded IMTO Market And Changing CBN Rules

Grey is entering a crowded IMTO market in Nigeria. The CBN’s list of approved IMTOs stood at 108 in 2025, up from the 15 IMTOs the country had barely a decade prior.

Condia linked that growth to revised CBN guidelines issued in January 2024. Under the new rules, the CBN cut the minimum capital for foreign IMTOs to $1 million, from about $12.8 million (₦2 billion) under the 2014 rules.

The CBN also lifted the application fee from ₦500,000 to ₦10 million. It added an annual renewal fee of ₦10 million and introduced a two stage process, approval in principle followed by final approval.

Other fintechs have taken the same route, including Raenest and Cleva, which announced IMTO licences in July 2024 and March 2025. For Grey, which started by helping Nigerian remote workers receive dollars, the IMTO licence adds a regulatory layer to a product line that now spans accounts, cards, savings, and credit.