‘Mobile money is not the only option in Sub Saharan Africa’

Thursday, April 23, 2015

Mobile money platforms may have taken root in Sub Saharan Africa but they are not the only innovation disrupting the financial services sector in the region, with new technology based finance platforms also seeing rising uptake, experts say.

Accounts held with mobile money platforms now outnumber accounts held with banks in countries such as Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Cote d’Ivoire as well as Somalia, experts at mobile money and research advisory firm, Mondato said in a report this week.

However, Frost and Sullivan said on Wednesday that other payment platforms that are not mobile are also gaining popularity. The research company cited Bitcoin as one of the technology based platforms likely to pose competition for mobile money platforms.

“The market is ripe for disruption from a Bitcoin-like currency, especially in markets with minimal regulation,” said Frost and Sullivan.

The report by Mondato said Nigeria was an example of a market where financial inclusion was fast developing without significant development in mobile money usage. It said “barely 2% of Nigerians have a mobile wallet, and yet 44% now have an account at a finance institution”.

Source: IT Web Africa (link opens in a new window)

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financial inclusion, mobile finance