Bank Systems & Technology is part of the Informa Tech Division of Informa PLC

This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.

Payments

10:55 AM
Connect Directly
RSS
E-Mail
50%
50%

African Mobile Money Payments at $200 Billion by 2015, Pyramid Forecasts

African mobile money transfers will exceed a total value of $200 billion in 2015, accounting for some eight percent of the continent's gross domestic product, according to a report released Wednesday by Pyramid Research.

African mobile money transfers will exceed a total value of $200 billion in 2015, accounting for some eight percent of the continent's gross domestic product, according to a report released Wednesday by Pyramid Research.

As user trust in mobile money systems grows, and more products become available, the market grows, says Pyramid's report, "Mobile FInancial Services in Africa: MBO Business Models and Market Forecast." A preview of the report is available online.

"In many developing regions, including Africa, the availability of formal financial services is limited to certain geographic and income ranges, often leaving the majority of the population to rely on unreliable and costly informal channels," says Jan ten Sythoff, Analyst at large for Pyramid Research. "Key market players, banks and mobile operators in particular are keen to address this opportunity."

The report analyzed 65 live networks in 14 countries, and Pyramid expects 42 of them to have launched a mobile money service by 2013. By 2015, Pyramid forecasted, there could be as many as one in five African people registered for mobile money services.

Regulations vary country by country and impact which services can be offered, by whom and in which way," ten Sythoff says. "Low literacy rates, which can also be a determinant of text usage, can also impact adoption, and lastly, the existence of widespread and low-cost alternative money transfer services is also a factor."

Comment  | 
Print  | 
More Insights
Register for Bank Systems & Technology Newsletters
Slideshows
Video
Bank Systems & Technology Radio
Archived Audio Interviews
Join Bank Systems & Technology Associate Editor Bryan Yurcan, and guests Karen Massey and Jerry Silva from IDC Financial Insights, for a conversation about the firm's 11th annual FinTech rankings.