Mobile money is proving to be a key driver of economic growth in emerging markets, with more than half a billion mobile money accounts registered worldwide by the end of 2016.

This is according to the latest GSMA mobile money report, which found that in December 2016 alone, the industry processed 1.3 billion transactions, averaging around 30,000 transactions per minute. Furthermore, there are more than 4.3 million mobile money agency outlets, with 30 countries now having 10 times more active mobile money agents than bank branches.

Mobile money has now been made available in two-thirds of low and middle income markets, with a growing range of applications, such as school fees, pay-as-you-go solar systems, and international remittances.

Affordable and commercially sustainable financial services have been made available to millions of people, pushing broader economic development in developing countries – through formalised payments, increased transparency in transaction data and boosting GDP.

Mats Granryd, director general of GSMA, said: “Giving underserved people access to digital payments has expanded financial inclusion to hundreds of millions of people in developing countries and has enabled them to be more secure, more empowered and more active contributors to local communities.

“In just ten years, mobile money has made amazing strides. With two billion people still excluded from financial services, mobile money’s potential for the future is greater still. Over the next decade, the industry needs to work together to place the transformational power of mobile money in the hands of those who need it most.”

Alix Murphy, Director of Mobile Partnerships at WorldRemit, added: "Today, ten years after the birth of M-PESA in Kenya, Mobile Money has become a crucial pillar of the mainstream economy in many countries around the world.

“In places like Ghana, Tanzania and Pakistan, mobile money is not only bringing millions of unbanked citizens into the formal financial system for the first time, it is providing safer transactions than traditional cash-based money transfer methods, and a much more affordable means for citizens to manage their own money. It is because of these benefits that mobile money has become a centralised payments platform around which all sectors of the economy and all segments of society interact.”

The World Bank has set a target of enabling a billion transaction accounts by 2020.

Share Story: