Cross-border MoMo: Lessons Ghana Can Copy Fast

Nigeria just got a clearer blueprint for making mobile money borderless. MTN’s MoMo Payment Service Bank (MoMo PSB) has partnered with Thunes—an international cross-border payments network—to let MoMo users receive money from abroad instantly.

This matters for Ghana more than most people admit. Cross-border remittances are already part of daily life for many households, and December is peak season: school fees, rent top-ups, family support, and “homecoming” spending all spike. When international transfers are slow, expensive, or unpredictable, people fall back to informal channels. That’s bad for consumer protection, bad for compliance, and bad for the formal economy.

For our “AI ne Fintech: Sɛnea Akɔntabuo ne Mobile Money Rehyɛ Ghana den” series, this MoMo PSB–Thunes deal is a useful case study because it shows where automation and AI-style decisioning quietly do the heavy lifting: routing, fraud checks, compliance screening, FX pricing, and real-time settlement.

What the MoMo PSB–Thunes deal actually changes

Answer first: It turns international remittances into a wallet-native experience—money lands straight in a mobile money wallet fast enough to be used immediately.

The partnership plugs MoMo PSB into Thunes’ Direct Global Network, expanding the countries MoMo users can receive money from (the report lists the USA, UK, Canada, France, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and South Africa). Instead of a recipient waiting for a bank alert, visiting an agent location, or dealing with “it’ll reflect later,” funds hit the wallet and can be spent right away.

This is not just a feature upgrade. It’s a behavior change. When remittances arrive instantly into a wallet, recipients:

• buy airtime and data without converting cash
• pay bills digitally (utilities, TV subscriptions, school fees where supported)
• send money onward to family and suppliers
• transact with merchants in-app

And that creates the flywheel that mobile money systems want: more wallet inflows → more wallet usage → more transaction history → better risk scoring and product offers.

One number from the report frames the opportunity clearly: Nigeria’s remittance inflows rose 9% in 2024 to $20.9 billion. Even capturing a fraction of those flows into wallets changes the economics of digital finance.

Why AI is the “quiet engine” behind cross-border mobile money

Answer first: Real-time cross-border payments only work at scale when compliance, fraud detection, and routing decisions are automated—and that’s where AI fits.

A common myth in fintech is that cross-border payments are just “connect to a partner and you’re done.” Most companies get this wrong. The hard part is operating a cross-border corridor safely and profitably while keeping user experience simple.

Here’s what has to happen in seconds when someone in the diaspora sends money home:

1) Smart routing and settlement decisions

Payments networks don’t have one single rail. They have options—different corridors, liquidity pools, partners, and local payout methods. The system has to choose a path that balances speed, cost, reliability, and FX exposure.

This is where automation (and increasingly ML-driven optimization) matters: the platform learns which routes fail more often at certain times, which partners cause delays, and how to predict liquidity needs.

2) Fraud detection that doesn’t punish honest users

Cross-border flows attract fraud: account takeovers, social engineering, mule accounts, and synthetic identities. If controls are weak, losses rise. If controls are too strict, legitimate users get blocked and churn.

Practical AI use here is not hype. It’s pattern recognition at scale:

• unusual recipient behavior (e.g., sudden high-frequency cash-outs)
• device changes and SIM-swap signals
• velocity checks across linked accounts
• anomaly detection on corridor-level spikes

3) Compliance screening at transaction speed

Cross-border transfers touch sensitive areas: AML monitoring, sanctions screening, and transaction monitoring thresholds. Doing this manually at high volume collapses operations.

AI-assisted compliance doesn’t mean “ignore regulation.” It means:

• better alert prioritization (fewer false positives)
• faster case triage
• consistent decisioning

For Ghana’s fintech operators and mobile money providers, the point is simple: borderless mobile money is a data + automation business as much as it is a partnership business.

What this implies for Ghana’s mobile money roadmap

Answer first: Ghana can compete on cross-border mobile money by focusing on corridor strategy, wallet usability, and AI-enabled risk controls—before chasing shiny new products.

Ghana already has strong mobile money adoption and a mature ecosystem of agents, merchants, and fintech integrations. The next layer is making wallets more useful beyond domestic transfers.

Here are three Ghana-specific lessons from the Nigeria case.

1) Treat cross-border payments like a “product,” not a checkbox

A cross-border feature that works 70% of the time will be judged as “it doesn’t work.” The bar is higher because the sender is abroad, time zones differ, and expectations are shaped by instant apps.

What to copy:

• clear recipient messaging (“funds received,” “available balance,” “fee charged”)
• transparent exchange rates and timestamps
• reliable reversal and dispute handling

If you want LEADS (and long-term trust), you don’t win with loud ads. You win with predictability.

2) Build around the holiday reality in West Africa

December is a stress test. Remittance volume rises, fraud attempts rise, and customer support tickets rise.

A Ghana operator planning cross-border wallet payouts should prepare for:

• corridor spikes in the last two weeks of December
• higher failed transactions due to liquidity mismatches
• social engineering attempts targeting families (“send urgently; I’m stuck” scams)

AI in fintech becomes practical here: forecasting peaks, flagging spikes early, and staffing support intelligently.

3) Use transaction data to expand financial inclusion responsibly

Mobile money is a powerful inclusion tool, but inclusion isn’t just opening wallets—it’s offering useful financial products.

Once cross-border inflows arrive digitally, providers can (carefully) design:

• micro-savings plans tied to remittance inflows
• bill payment reminders and autopay features
• credit scoring models based on stable inflow patterns

The stance I’ll take: Ghana should push hard for responsible automation rather than “manual everything for safety.” Manual processes don’t scale, and they usually create hidden discrimination (who gets fast service vs who gets delayed).

A practical playbook for fintech teams in Ghana

Answer first: Start with one corridor, automate risk controls, then expand—because cross-border mobile money fails when you scale too wide too early.

If you’re a fintech, PSP, or mobile money-adjacent business in Ghana looking to build or partner into cross-border payouts, this is a sensible sequence.

Step 1: Pick corridors based on real demand

Don’t guess. Use proxies:

• diaspora concentration by country
• inbound transfer inquiries and support tickets
• merchant demand (importers, online sellers)

A focused corridor strategy lets you negotiate better terms and monitor risk more tightly.

Step 2: Make wallet usage immediate (not “cash-out first”)

Cross-border money landing in a wallet is only half the job. The goal is spend-in-wallet.

What works:

• strong merchant acceptance (QR, pay-by-phone, online checkout)
• bill payment integrations that people actually use
• fees that encourage digital spending rather than immediate cash-out

If every remittance is cashed out immediately, you’ve built a payout pipe—not a digital economy layer.

Step 3: Instrument your fraud and compliance controls early

Set up controls before growth:

• device fingerprinting and SIM-swap checks
• velocity rules for new recipients
• ML-based anomaly detection on corridor behavior
• clear escalation paths for compliance reviews

A good metric to track is false positive rate on blocked transactions. High false positives feel like “the service is unreliable.”

Step 4: Treat customer support as part of the product

Cross-border issues are emotionally charged: it’s family money.

Operational basics that reduce churn:

• fast transaction status visibility for agents and support staff
• templated explanations for common failure reasons
• defined timelines for reversals and chargebacks

Step 5: Expand to more countries only after reliability is proven

The temptation is to announce “130 countries.” The smarter move is to prove:

• success rate targets
• payout time targets
• dispute resolution targets

Then grow.

People also ask: what makes cross-border mobile money “instant”?

Answer first: It’s instant when the network can confirm funds, clear compliance checks, and complete wallet settlement in one automated flow.

“Instant” doesn’t mean there’s no complexity. It means the complexity is handled by the network and systems behind the scenes. A global network like Thunes connects multiple payment methods (wallets, banks, cards) and can support real-time transfers across many countries and currencies—so the recipient doesn’t experience the delays created by fragmented rails.

What to watch next in West Africa

Answer first: The winners will combine partnerships with AI-powered operations: pricing, fraud control, compliance, and customer experience.

The MoMo PSB–Thunes story is less about a press release and more about a direction: mobile money providers want to be the place where global money lands, not where it passes through reluctantly.

For Ghana, the opportunity is to make mobile money + akɔntabuo (digital accounting) + AI automation feel like one connected system for households and SMEs. When inbound funds arrive in-wallet, small businesses can track cashflow better, pay suppliers faster, and build the data trail that makes formal credit cheaper.

If you’re building in this space, don’t ask “Should we add cross-border?” Ask: Which corridor, which user segment, and which risk controls will keep it reliable in peak season? That’s the difference between a feature and a financial infrastructure layer.