GSMA : Mobile Money Accounts Increased by 31% to 411M in 2015

The GSMA today released its fifth annual ‘State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money’. The report provides a quantitative assessment of the industry, drawing on the results of the annual GSMA Global Adoption Survey of Mobile Financial Services, data from the GSMA Mobile Money Deployment Tracker and insights on mobile money performance from the GSMA’s engagement with the industry over the last year.

“Mobile money is driving social and economic impact for millions of people in emerging markets,” said John Giusti, Chief Regulatory Officer, GSMA. “Over the last decade, mobile money has done more to extend the reach of financial services than traditional bricks and mortar banking were able to do over the last century. With 411 million mobile money accounts today, mobile is an increasingly critical platform for expanding financial inclusion globally.”

Growth in Services

Mobile money is changing the landscape of financial inclusion. With 271 services in 93 countries, mobile money is now available in 85 per cent of markets where less than 20 per cent of the population have an account at a formal financial institution. The report shows that the number of active mobile money users is growing rapidly year-on-year. As of December 2015, there were more than 134 million accounts active, with 30 services having more than one million active accounts and seven services with more than four million. Mobile network operators continue to play a leading role in delivering mobile money and expanding financial inclusion.

Key 2015 findings:

• More than one billion transactions were processed in December 2015;
• Mobile money is available in 85 per cent of countries where most of the population lacks access to formal financial institutions;
• Registered accounts continue to grow with nearly 100 million new registered accounts in 2015, bringing the number to 411 million globally;
• In 2015, there were 29 cross-border mobile money initiatives connecting 19 countries, with cross-border remittances growing 52 per cent, by volume, over the last year; and
• The industry has shown a continued commitment to mobile money with three-quarters of respondents maintaining or increasing their investment in mobile money over the previous year.

While Sub-Saharan Africa continues to account for the majority of live mobile money services, more than half of the new services launched in 2015 were outside this region, primarily in Latin America and the Caribbean. Looking ahead, new mobile money services are expected to grow by as much as 50 per cent in Europe and Central Asia, as well as the Middle East and North Africa, demonstrating the significant traction that mobile money is gaining globally.

Continued Increase in Industry Collaboration

Mobile money providers recognise the critical role that industry collaboration can play in accelerating ecosystem growth. Nearly one-quarter of mobile money providers surveyed indicated that they are collaborating today and a third are planning to collaborate in the next 12 months. In 60 of the 93 markets where mobile money is available, there are two or more live mobile money services, and 35 markets have three or more live mobile money services. This provides continued opportunity for industry collaboration. As mobile money becomes a core service offering for MNOs, increased competition and customer demand has led to greater interest in the development of account-to-account interoperability. Currently operators in Indonesia, Madagascar, Pakistan, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, Tanzania and Thailand are interconnecting their services to allow their customers to send money directly to mobile wallets on other networks.

Notes to Editors

A full copy of the report and further information on the GSMA’s Mobile Money Programme can be found at:www.gsma.com/mobilemoney.