Send money to Nigeria from Canada
Grey pays Nigerian naira into a 10 digit NUBAN account number, delivered over NIBSS, the network Nigerian banks clear between themselves on. GTBank, Access Bank, Zenith Bank, UBA, First Bank, Sterling Bank, Fidelity Bank and FCMB are all reachable. You hold your Grey balance in US dollars, provided by Lead Bank, in pounds or in euro, and it becomes naira at the point you send. Nobody in Lagos, Abuja or Port Harcourt signs up for anything to receive it.
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A corridor that barely existed a decade ago
The Nigerian community in Canada is young, in two senses. Most of it arrived recently, through skilled migration and study permits rather than through a long-settled chain, and the people in it are mostly at the working stage of life rather than the retired one. That shapes everything about how money moves.
It is concentrated in places that surprise people who assume every diaspora lives in Toronto. Calgary and Edmonton, where engineers, project managers and health workers went for the jobs. Winnipeg and Regina, where the intake has been steady and the cost of living made it possible to send more home. Brampton, Mississauga, Scarborough and Ajax across the Greater Toronto Area. Halifax and Cape Breton for students.
What gets sent is rarely one thing. A parent's monthly upkeep in Ibadan or Enugu, a younger sibling's school fees, a plot in Lekki or on the Abuja outskirts being paid down, a hospital bill that appeared without warning, and the family obligations that arrive on their own schedule and cannot be declined. Every one of them ends up as a naira credit in a 10 digit NUBAN account.
Signing up, funding and sending to Nigeria
Sign up
The account is free and takes about five minutes to open with one valid identity document. Nothing is mailed to you and no appointment is booked anywhere.
Fund
A Canadian dollar balance is not something Grey holds. You hold US dollars, provided by Lead Bank, pounds or euro, funded by a client, an employer outside Canada or a transfer you arrange yourself.
Send
Enter the 10 digit NUBAN and the bank name. The naira amount, the rate and the fee appear together. Confirm, and the rate is fixed. The NIBSS credit typically arrives within minutes.
What a transfer to Nigeria costs
Nobody on this corridor needs telling that the rate is the thing to watch. Naira senders compare rates as a matter of habit, quote them to each other, and know precisely what a poor one costs across a year of monthly transfers. What is worth saying is that the rate and the fee belong together: a service can advertise no fee at all and still deliver fewer naira than one that charges openly.
The other comparison people make is against an informal arrangement, somebody who takes dollars in Canada and has naira paid out at home. That works until it does not, and when it does not there is no record, no tracking and nobody to ask. Grey shows both numbers in advance and tracks the transfer from confirmation to settlement.
How the fixed rate works, balance to naira
The rate is on screen before you confirm and it is held from confirmation. The naira figure you approved is the naira figure that reaches the account, and no recalculation happens after the transfer is under way.
On a currency that moves as much as this one, that is the difference between a transfer and a gamble. If you cover a parent's upkeep at the end of each month, you are measuring one fixed rate against last month's fixed rate rather than trying to work out afterwards what you were actually given.
Grey and a Canadian bank wire, side by side
An international wire from RBC, TD Canada Trust, Scotiabank, BMO or CIBC is designed for occasional large payments and priced accordingly. It travels through correspondent banks, the naira rate is decided inside the bank instead of shown to you as a number you agreed to, and a delay tends to be noticed rather than announced. Interac e-Transfer, which handles almost every payment Canadians make at home, stops at the border. Grey converts once, pays over NIBSS into a NUBAN, quotes the rate and the fee before you commit, and keeps the transfer trackable the whole way.
What your recipient in Nigeria sees
No app to install, no account to open, no branch to visit. The naira lands in the bank account your family already uses and shows up as an ordinary credit.
A 10 digit NUBAN
GTBank, Access Bank, Zenith Bank, UBA, First Bank, Sterling Bank, Fidelity Bank and FCMB are all reachable. You need the 10 digit account number and the name of the bank holding it.
Delivered over NIBSS
NIBSS is the clearing network Nigerian banks use between themselves, so the credit behaves like a domestic transfer rather than an inbound foreign payment. From a funded balance it is typically a matter of minutes.
GreyTag, when they also use Grey
A sibling or a friend who already holds a Grey account can be paid by GreyTag instead. Free, instant, and no NUBAN required at all.
Where the balance comes from
Grey is funded from outside Canada, so the first thing a new sender works out is where the money in the balance comes from rather than how the payout behaves.
From a client
Remote and contract work paid in US dollars, pounds or euro reaches the matching balance directly. A large share of this corridor's senders in Calgary and the GTA work exactly that way.
From an employer
Pay from a company outside Canada can be received into the balance and held, converting once into naira when you send instead of twice along the way.
From a transfer you arrange
Money held elsewhere can be moved in and left waiting, which is what people do before school fees fall due or a family event is coming.
However the balance is filled, it stays in one currency until you press send, and the conversion into naira happens once, at a rate you have already read.
What Canadians send to Nigeria for
Parents and household upkeep
Food, generator fuel, medication and the running of a house in Ibadan, Enugu, Benin City or Uyo, paid at the end of each month from Edmonton or Brampton. The amount varies. The date rarely does.
School and university fees
A younger sibling's secondary school in Lagos, a cousin's university session in Nsukka or Zaria. Term fees are large, dated, and paid straight into the institution's own account.
Land and building
A plot in Lekki or on the edge of Abuja bought in instalments, then built on floor by floor. The single biggest reason people on this corridor send large amounts irregularly.
Hospitals and family events
A surgery in Port Harcourt that cannot wait, a wedding, a burial that the whole extended family is expected to contribute to. Unplanned, urgent, and the worst possible moment for a transfer to sit somewhere.
Four categories carry this corridor, and most senders are running at least three of them at once.
Why Canadians use Grey on the Nigeria corridor
Open the account, fund a balance, and ask for the 10 digit NUBAN together with the bank name. Most people are through the first two steps in an evening and have sent by the weekend.
There is no relationship to prove and no branch to attend. One valid identity document on your side, and on theirs an account number they already know by heart, because everybody in Nigeria does.
FAQs
What is a NUBAN and is it all I need to send naira?
The NUBAN is the 10 digit account number every Nigerian bank issues. Grey needs it and the name of the bank holding the account.
Which Nigerian banks can Grey pay into?
GTBank, Access Bank, Zenith Bank, UBA, First Bank, Sterling Bank, Fidelity Bank and FCMB are all reachable, along with other Nigerian banks.
What is NIBSS and why does it matter to my transfer?
NIBSS is the network Nigerian banks clear between themselves on. Grey pays over it, so naira arrives like a domestic credit rather than a foreign payment.
Can I fund Grey with Canadian dollars from my Alberta payroll?
No. A Canadian dollar balance is not something Grey holds. You hold US dollars, provided by Lead Bank, pounds or euro, and convert to naira when you send.
Does my mother in Enugu need a Grey account to receive naira?
No. She registers for nothing. The naira lands in the Nigerian bank account she already holds, shown as an ordinary incoming credit.
Is the naira rate I see the rate my family actually gets?
Yes. The rate is shown before confirmation and fixed at confirmation, so the naira figure you approved is the figure that reaches the NUBAN.
Can I pay school fees straight into a Nigerian school's account?
Yes. Enter the school's 10 digit NUBAN and its bank, the same way you would a relative's, and include any reference they ask for.
Can I use Interac e-Transfer to send money to Nigeria?
No. Interac e-Transfer never leaves Canada. Grey converts from a US dollar, pound or euro balance and pays naira over NIBSS.
Can I send a large one-off amount towards land or a building project?
Yes. The route is the same for a large transfer as a small one, and the naira total is fixed at the moment you confirm.
How do I prove a transfer went out when the family asks?
Every transfer is trackable from confirmation to settlement, so you can see where it sits and say so without phoning anyone.
How long does a transfer from Canada to Nigeria take?
Transfers from a funded Grey balance typically arrive within minutes over NIBSS. Getting money into the balance first is the slower step.
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