TerraPay, a mobile-first international payment network, has partnered with money transfer firm MoneyTrans and Nigerian payments and financial services company Paga to launch cross-border remittances from Spain to mobile wallets in Nigeria.

Nigerians in Spain can send money to any mobile phone number in Nigeria through Paga, just by visiting the nearest MoneyTrans store.

In a statement, the collaborators explain that recipients can withdraw money from more than 11,000 Paga agents across Nigeria or make cardless withdrawals from ATMs.

"The recipient can also use the money to pay bills, buy airtime or send the money to any other phone number or bank account in Nigeria, among other services," they say.

The mobile based cross-border remittance service has been launched in Spain and will be followed by successive launches in Belgium, France and Italy in the coming weeks, according to the partners.

Jeremy De Smet, COO of MoneyTrans said, "We are glad to take another huge step in enabling mobile money services in Africa. TerraPay is well positioned to offer a strong solution building upon and leveraging a major technical infrastructure that has been in place for many years in Africa."

"Nigeria presents a wide array of opportunities for companies like TerraPay, as it is the biggest remittances receiver in Africa", said Ambar Sur, Founder and CEO of TerraPay. "This partnership with MoneyTrans and Paga will play a pivotal role in cross-border remittances in Nigeria, helping to reduce fees, improve speed and provide convenience for users."

Jay Alabraba, Co-founder Paga said, "We are happy to collaborate with TerraPay and MoneyTrans in enabling secure transfers between Spain and Nigeria, the first of several important remittance corridors we will be launching together. By combining Paga's extensive reach with the proven capabilities of TerraPay and MoneyTrans in the international remittance space, we are bringing to market a seamless and easy-to-use facility for Nigerians at home and in the diaspora."

The company say Nigeria is ranked sixth among the top remittance-receiving countries in the world. In 2015, the World Bank pegged remittances received in Nigeria at US$21 billion.

According to a GSMA 2015 State of the Industry Report on Mobile Financial Services, the number of active mobile money accounts globally exceeds 130 million, with over 100 million new registered users added in 2015. The report also showed that in 2015 there were 271 active services in 93 countries.

The GSMA's Mobile Economy – Africa 2016 Report states that globally, border mobile money remittance grew more than any other ecosystem product in 2015.

The statistic given is that four out of five mobile money-based international remittance transactions occur in Africa.