Tanzania ranked high in financial services

TANZANIA has globally been ranked 12th among 21 countries assessed for their efforts to expand and improve access to financial services, ranking first in country commitment and second in regulatory environment categories.

According to the latest report by the US based, Brookings Institution, mobile money account ownership is almost five times as prevalent as bank account ownership and Tanzania received the second highest score after Kenya in terms of mobile money accounts among women, highlighting the improving gender equity in financial services.

“Over 95 million Mobile Money transactions are made each month in Tanzania – more than the number of monthly transactions made in Kenya, according to current World Bank statistics,” the report read in part.

The report cited that mobile operators in Tanzania are leading the charge in connecting domestic mobile money ecosystems to international remittances and this was recently evident when Tigo Tanzania announced a partnership with global money transfer App WorldRemit for the Diaspora.

Tigo was the first mobile operator in the world to pay out interest on Tigopesa mobile money wallets to customers through its Tigo Wekeza service and in July Tigo paid out 1.8 million US Dollars to Tigopesa users.

Vodacom launched a mobile based savings and loans package in Tanzania called m-Pawa with the Commercial Bank of Africa which reached over 3 million US Dollars in savings in August 2015.

“Tanzania ranked in top position globally for the best regulatory environment for digital financial services. An innovative “test and learn” approach has enabled some of the most impactful Mobile Money innovations, including interest bearing accounts, network interoperability and international remittances,” the report cited.

By 2014, Tanzania went from having one of the lowest levels of financial inclusion in the world (7 per cent in 2009) to surpassing its 2015 target of achieving financial access for 50 per cent of the population, according to the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority.

Tanzania received the 4th highest score globally in terms of capacity for mobile-based financial services where the number of Mobile Money agent locations in Tanzania far exceeds the number of “brick and mortar” banks by a ratio of almost 30 to 1.

Alix Murphy, Senior Mobile Analyst at WorldRemit said that the latest report by latest the Brookings Institution reflects the great strides Tanzania has made in mobile financial services and financial inclusion.

“Today, 80 per cent of our international money transfers to Tanzania go to one of three mobile wallet services, demonstrating the important role Mobile Money plays for Tanzanians living in the diaspora,” she said.

Ms Murphy said that Tanzanians abroad send home 64 million US Dollars every year, the majority of which is still sent and collected at high-street agents and cash pick-up locations and that as soon as they began offering transfers to mobile money in Tanzania it rapidly overtook all other receive options, including both cash pick-up and bank deposits, as the preferred option for sending money home.

SOURCE:TANZANIA DAILY NEWS