Group puts Kenya ahead in mobile cash deals

PHOTO | FILE A woman withdraws money at an MPesa shop in Nyeri on April 16, 2013. Kenya is a global-leader in mobile phone-based cash business holding a third of the world’s 61 million virtual money accounts.  NATION MEDIA GROUP

In Summary

• The GSMA’s Mobile Money for the Unbanked programme, in its third annual mobile financial services state of the industry report, said the number of active mobile money users continues to grow rapidly year-on-year, with more than 61 million accounts active as of June 2013, compared to 37 million in June 2012.

By Nation Correspondent
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Kenya is a global-leader in mobile phone-based cash business holding a third of the world’s 61 million virtual money accounts.

An association of mobile operators (GSMA) meeting in Spain yesterday released a statement saying the number of the unbanked poor had benefited immensely from continued growth in mobile phone-based financial services pioneered by Kenya’s Safaricom.

The GSMA’s Mobile Money for the Unbanked programme, in its third annual mobile financial services state of the industry report, said the number of active mobile money users continues to grow rapidly year-on-year, with more than 61 million accounts active as of June 2013, compared to 37 million in June 2012.

“Further, the number of registered mobile money accounts nearly tripled from 71 million in June 2011 to 203 million in June 2013. Services have expanded across a greater number of regions, with 219 in 84 countries at the end of 2013, compared to 179 in 75 countries at the end of 2012,” it said.

The majority of services remain in sub-Saharan Africa, with 52 per cent of all live mobile money deployments located in the region