NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Tuesday, February 27, 2018

Today, we’re pleased to announce the release of the 2017 State of the Industry report on Mobile Money. With our annual report now in its seventh year, this year’s SOTIR focuses on numerous new trends to have emerged in mobile money in 2017 – from the accelerated growth of bank-to-mobile interoperability, to the emergence of South Asia as the fastest growing region, and a raft of innovations designed to reach the most underserved. The mobile money industry is now processing a billion dollars a day and generating direct revenues of over $2.4 billion. With 690 million registered accounts worldwide, mobile money has evolved into the leading payment platform for the digital economy in many emerging markets.

Today, we’re pleased to announce the release of the 2017 State of the Industry report on Mobile Money. With our annual report now in its seventh year, this year’s SOTIR focuses on numerous new trends to have emerged in mobile money in 2017 – from the accelerated growth of bank-to-mobile interoperability, to the emergence of South Asia as the fastest growing region, and a raft of innovations designed to reach the most underserved. The mobile money industry is now processing a billion dollars a day and generating direct revenues of over $2.4 billion. With 690 million registered accounts worldwide, mobile money has evolved into the leading payment platform for the digital economy in many emerging markets.The report sheds light on several factors underpinning the success of a growing number of mobile money providers: a sustained focus on activity rates, the digitisation of platforms and measures to reduce the net cost of the agent network. On each of these fronts, the trends in 2017 were positive.

Photo courtesy of Erik Hersman.