Mobile money has evolved into the leading payment platform for the digital economy in many emerging markets, according to GSMA.
There are now more than 690 million mobile money accounts worldwide, many of which are held by individuals who previously had no access to the traditional banking system.
The GSMA’s newly published, seventh annual ‘State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money’ the mobile money industry processed transactions worth a billion dollars a day, generating direct revenues of over $2.4 billion.
Additional highlights:
- Sub-Saharan Africa has long been the epicenter of mobile money and growth in this region shows no sign of slowing
- In 2017, for the first time, the growth of the industry was led by South Asia, which had 47% YOY growth and now represents 34% of registered accounts globally.
- Mobile money is evolving into a sustainable industry and represents an important driver of economic growth in developing markets, particularly through formalizing payments, increasing transparency and boosting GDP.
- A growing number of mobile money services are seeing the proportion of their customer base regularly using their service increase to over 50%
- More funds are entering and leaving the mobile money ecosystem in digital form; bulk disbursements, bill payments and bank-to-wallet transactions have been the main drivers. In 2017, nearly 25% of incoming funds were digital, compared to nearly 12% in 2012.
“As the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) enter their third year, mobile technology is proving to be an essential tool for delivering these global goals with increased connectivity and innovative services enabling more inclusive communities,” said Mats Granryd, Director General, GSMA. “Mobile money remains a central part of this story, contributing to 13 of the 17 SDGs, enabling access to essential services like health and education, empowering women with employment opportunities and reducing poverty by offering life-enhancing financial services, often for the first time.”