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

Thursday, May 14, 2015

At the Mobile 360 Latin America event today, the GSMA issued the report, ‘Mobile Financial Services in Latin America and the Caribbean: state of play, commercial models and regulatory approaches’, which examines the current state of mobile financial services across Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region. The report outlines important advances in mobile money adoption in the region, showing that nearly two thirds of markets have at least one live mobile money service. Today, there are a total of 37 mobile money services, accounting for roughly 14.9 million registered mobile money accounts, in 19 countries1 in the region. This includes seven new services launched in Brazil, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Panama and Peru since 2014.

The report provides an analysis of commercial models being employed in different markets; discusses the regulatory evolution that has helped shape the industry; and investigates demographics and many other market factors that play a critical role in the development and growth of new and successful commercial models for mobile money.

“Great progress has been made in deepening financial inclusion in Latin America and the Caribbean over the last three years,” said Sebastian Cabello, Head, GSMA Latin America. “The region has seen a major increase in the number of adults with bank accounts, however, approximately half of all adults in LAC still remain unbanked. Mobile money services are a powerful tool for expanding financial access in developing markets and will play a critical role in continuing to build a healthy digital financial ecosystem in the region.”