Global mobile money users surpass 500m

Mobile money services are rapidly gaining traction worldwide, with 277 services now having launched across 92 countries, according to research from mobile industry body the GSM Association (GSMA).

Since the pioneering launch of the first mobile money service in Kenya a decade ago, more than half a billion consumers worldwide have registered mobile money accounts.

Of these, nearly 174 million accounts are active — defined as being used at least once in a 90-day period. There are also now 35 mobile money services with over 1 million active accounts each.

Mobile money providers are now collectively processing an average of 30,000 transactions per minute, or more than 43 million per day.

Mobile money has been a particular success story in bringing financial services to the unbanked in emerging markets, and the GSMA’s research reflects this. It shows that mobile money services are now available in 66% of low- and middle-income markets worldwide.

The report also demonstrates that in 30 countries, there are 10 times more active mobile money agents than bank branches. Globally, there are more than 4.3 million mobile money agent outlets.

“In just 10 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,” GSMA director general Mats Granryd commented.

“Over the next decade, the [mobile] industry needs to work together to place the transformational power of mobile money in the hands of those who need it most.”

Granryd added that the mobile industry’s leading role in the mobile money revolution demonstrates how important the sector is to achieving the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

To help further stimulate the market, the GSMA has launched a developer portal to help platform vendors and the technical community ensure interoperability of their services with GSMA industry-standard mobile money APIs.

Image courtesy of Rachel Strohm under CC

Follow us on Twitter and Facebook