Mobile money account ownership grew from 16 per cent in 2021 to 22 per cent in 2022, GSMA has stated.
According to the global body representing telecommunication firms, the recent Payment Service Bank licence granted to MTN and Airtel by the Central Bank of Nigeria is responsible for the growth.
A report titled, ‘The State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money 2023,’ said, “Among all adults that are aware of mobile money and have used a mobile phone, mobile money account ownership has grown from 16 per cent to 22 per cent in the last year.
“Of all adults with a mobile money account, 88 per cent have one registered in their own name (a nine percentage point increase year on year).”
In 2022, registered mobile money accounts grew by 13 per cent year-on-year, from 1.4 billion in 2021 to 1.6 billion in 2022 partly due to regulatory changes in Sub-Saharan Africa, especially in Nigeria and Ethiopia. The Sub-Saharan African region grew global active accounts on a 30-day basis, with more customers using mobile money accounts more frequently.
Digital transactions grew in 2022 with cash usage slowing down. Transaction values grew by 22 per cent between 2021 and 2022, from $1tn to around $1.26tn. Transaction value in Nigeria and other Sub-Saharan African countries grew to $832bn in 2022.
GSMA noted, “However, the share of cash-based transactions in the overall transaction mix declined, with cash-in and cash-out transactions dropping nearly two percentage points. This is due to a significant rise in digital transactions, particularly interoperable bank transfers, and bill payments.”
The association stated that global daily transaction values were exceeding predictions with $3.45bn transacted daily via mobile money in 2022. The total number of mobile agents grew by 41 per cent y-o-y in 2022.
“The number of mobile money agents grew from 12 million in 2021 to around 17 million in 2022 – a staggering 41 per cent year-on-year increase,” GSMA said. “Much of this growth was in Nigeria where a liberalised regulatory regime has led to an increase in MMPs. Agents are an important part of any mobile network service and were responsible for two-thirds of all cash-in transactions in 2022.”
