Developing Mobile Money Ecosystems

This report leverages mobile telephony to deliver financial services and examines mobile money industry foundations and its future impact.The convenience of mobile phones is throwing up new opportunities in financial services delivery. For businesses, these include reaching new customers and providing better services to existing customers. For customers, opportunities include increased affordability, convenience and security. The report states that mobile money:

• Displays significant economic activity implications;
• Reduces cost and risk inherent in cash transactions;
• Facilitates easy money flow using existing communications infrastructure;
• Facilitates financial sector inclusion;
• Demonstrates enormous potential for development impact;
• Helps poor people escape poverty by gaining access to financial services.

To grow, the mobile money industry requires:

• Effective partnerships to build mobile money ecosystems;
• Proactive initiatives by mobile network operators (MNOs), agents, banks and governments;
• Enabling environment.

The future development of the mobile money industry requires sustained action, experimentation and innovation by mobile money firms and the government. Stakeholders also need to focus on communication and collaboration.