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.
