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GT Bank, a leading Nigerian bank, and MoneyGram, a global money transfer company, have launched a remittance service that allows GT Bank customers to receive remittances directly into their personal accounts.

With the new service, customers can receive remittances from friends and family directly into their personal GT Bank accounts within minutes. The funds can be easily accessed as customers would normally do on their deposits via ATM, online banking or in person.

“MoneyGram’s account deposit service makes it easy and convenient for both the sender and the receiver to transfer and receive funds,” said Alex Holmes, MoneyGram CEO, during a signing ceremony in Lagos on Wednesday. “We are pleased to work with GT Bank and we are proud to be connected to almost 1.5 billion bank accounts in five of the world’s largest remittance receive markets — Nigeria, China, India, Mexico and the Philippines.”

Remittances are the second largest source of foreign exchange in Nigeria after oil and gas. In 2015, Nigerians living abroad sent home $20.77 billion, making Nigeria the sixth largest recipient of remittances in the world, according to the World Bank’s 2016 Migration and Remittances Factbook.

Remittances to Nigeria have risen every year for the last decade, from $16.93 billion in 2006 to $20.83 billion in 2014. In 2015, however, remittances fell slightly to $20.77 billion. The two major sources of remittances to Nigeria are the United States ($5.7 billion) and the United Kingdom ($3.7 billion).

The top ten remittance recipients in Africa last year were: Nigeria ($20.8bn), Ghana ($2.0bn), Senegal ($1.6bn), Kenya ($1.6bn), South Africa ($1.0bn), Uganda ($0.9bn), Mali ($0.9bn), Ethiopia ($0.6bn), Liberia ($0.5bn), and Sudan ($0.5bn).

“This collaboration with MoneyGram is a reflection of the bank’s commitment to building strategic partnerships that birth innovative financial solutions and provide our customers with a superior banking experience,” said Wale Oyedeji, GT Bank’s Executive Director. “With the account deposit service, our customers can receive money transfers via MoneyGram in minutes.”