Mobile money industry continues to grow with more than one billion transactions processed in December 2015

The GSMA has 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:

• Mobile money is now available in 93 countries via 271 services.

• More regulators are recognising the importance of creating an open and level playing field for mobile money services, although policy improvements are still required to ensure mobile financial services reach the full addressable market and achieve financial inclusion. In 2015, 51 of 93 countries have an enabling regulatory framework.

• Industry collaboration continues to gather steam. Nearly one-quarter of respondents reported that they currently collaborate with other mobile money services, and a third reported they were planning to collaborate in the next 12 months.

• Agents remain the physical backbone and face of mobile money to digitise and disburse cash (versus ATMs, banks, etc.), representing more than 90.5% of the cash-in and cash-out footprint. They also account for a significant cost of doing business, with an average of 54.4% of the top 10 providers revenues going to agent commissions.

• Mobile money is changing the landscape of financial inclusion. In 2015, 37 markets had ten times more registered agents than bank branches and registered customer accounts grew 31% to reach a total of 411 million registered accounts globally.

• Mobile money providers processed just over a billion transactions in December 2015, which is more than double what PayPal processed globally. Furthermore, active mobile money customers conduct an average of 11.2 transactions per month and maintain a median account balance of US$ 4.70, both increases from 2014.

• While OTC continues to be a significant part of mobile money, the growth rate is slowing, relative to the growth of account adoption. In South Asia, home to especially high OTC activity, the 19% growth (year-on-year) of OTC is dwarfed by the 47% growth in registered accounts. This promising sign suggests that the increased focus of providers to migrate OTC customers is bearing fruit.

• Cross-border transactions were the fastest growing product in 2015. Mobile money services offering International Money Transfer (IMT) saw the volume of cross-border remittances increase by 51.8%.

• Fifteen providers reported revenues of more than US$ 1 million during the month of June 2015, up from 11 in June 2014. All but three of these providers are MNOs, and 12 have over one million active accounts on a 90-day basis.

• The majority of mobile money providers recognise the need for long-term investment in their service. In 2015, three-quarters of respondents maintained or increased 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.

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Introduction

Mobile money has done more to extend the reach of financial services in the last decade than traditional “bricks and mortar” banking has in the last century.

Today, there are 411 million mobile money accounts globally. Moreover, mobile money is available in 85% of countries where the vast majority of the population lacks access to a formal financial institution. This is an extraordinary achievement, demonstrating the power of mobile, underpinned by the important role mobile network operators have played in building this industry.

However, while the success to date is to be celebrated, the future success of mobile money depends on the industry’s capacity to adapt to a changing landscape. The findings from the 2015 report provide insights on both current and future trends, giving better visibility on what is changing and how to adapt. This year, we see four trends that will impact the industry’s evolution:

• With an increasingly active customer base, further development of the mobile money ecosystem will be essential to diversify customer usage.

• Operational foundations and agent management remain critical to digitise cash.

• Increased investment will be key for providers to compete in an online world.

• While mobile money is more accessible than ever before, there is still an opportunity to reach underserved segments, particularly women and rural consumers.

The full findings of the report provide a complete quantitative assessment of mobile financial services based on data collected though GSMA’s annual Global Adoption Survey on Mobile Financial Services. In 2015, 107 mobile money providers from 67 countries participated in this survey.

This publication focuses on the state of the mobile money sector and industry trends. Specifically, it looks at:

• Availability and spread of mobile money services globally

• Access to mobile money services, including both physical access through agent networks and technical access through the mobile interface

• Adoption and customer activity levels, particularly how service providers drive scale

• Usage and how the industry is focusing on usage that builds the ecosystem

• Revenues and investment

The forthcoming analysis on the adoption of other mobile financial services: mobile insurance, mobile savings, and mobile credit, will be released in late spring 2016.

» Download the full 2015 State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money (PDF, 6.44 MB)