Mobile money transactions hit 57pc
Dar es Salaam. More than half of global transactions in ‘mobile money’ in 2019 were done digitally... That is, without converting it into cash!
According to the 2019 State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money by Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA), digital transactions represented a majority of mobile money flows.
“For the first time, digital transactions represent the majority 57 percent of mobile money transactions value. A larger proportion of money is entering and leaving the system in digital form, rather than cash conversions,” the report reads in part.
Essentially, this signifies a heightened level of acceptance of digitisation, which is a step closer to a cashless digital economy.
According to the report, in 2019, there was a shift away from cash to digital payments, especially for services like school fees, e-commerce, remittances, savings, credit, pay-as-you-go and utilities among others.
There is currently renewed need for a cashless economy among different countries, especially because of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, whose risk of spreading is increased by movement of paper money.
Interoperability
The findings peg the increase in digital transactions to the industry becoming a more integral part of the financial ecosystem through interoperability and lower barriers to third-party integration.
For instance, on average, mobile money providers with bank integrations are connected to 13 banks, which has dramatically increased the volumes moving between mobile money and banking systems.
Mobile money-to-bank account interoperability has grown, increasing by 34 percent year on year in 2019.
Additionally, mobile money-enabled international remittances have been flourishing, with $7.3 billion processed in 2019, compared to $5.5 billion in 2018.
Increased user trust, as well as augmenting mobile money accounts - which the report highlighted - went over one billion in 2019 with about 372 million active on a three-months basis, has promoted digital transacting.
Sub-Saharan Africa, the report says, is the epicenter of mobile money, adding over 50 million accounts in 2019 alone!
This was driven by strong growth in western Africa (21 million new accounts) and central Africa (six million new accounts), as well as steady growth in eastern Africa (22 million new accounts).
