Mobile money
success
considerations
Peer-to-peer exchange on remittances
Barry Cooper & Cat Denoon-Stevens
October 2016
What are the conditions required for mobile money to
be successful?
• Supporting infrastructure
- Physical (ie: electricity, roads, agent availability)
- Payments
o Digital
o Cash
- Mobile phone penetration
• Regulation
- Coordination between regulators
- Enabling regulation
• Business consideration
- Business case (inclu. fit to MNO business)
- Access points
- Product suite
• Consumer needs
– Relationship to consumer
– Appropriate data
What are the conditions required for mobile money to
be successful?
• Supporting infrastructure
- Physical (ie: electricity, roads, agent availability)
- Payments
o Digital
o Cash
- Mobile phone penetration
• Regulation
- Coordination between regulators
- Enabling regulation
• Business consideration
- Business case (inclu. fit to MNO business)
- Access points
- Product suite
• Consumer needs
– Relationship to consumer
– Appropriate data
Digital swimming in a sea of cash
Source: Bester, 2016; FinScope Consumer Surveys
Percentage of adults that report payment need and its fulfilment across the six MAP
pilot countries: Thailand, Myanmar, Mozambique, Lesotho, Swaziland and Malawi
Digital swimming in a sea of cash
Source: Bester, 2016; FinScope Consumer Surveys
Percentage of adults that report payment need and its fulfilment across the six MAP
pilot countries: Thailand, Myanmar, Mozambique, Lesotho, Swaziland and Malawi
BUT…Not just an African or developing country
phenomena:o In Mexico, 90% of all consumer payments are still
made in cash, accounting for 75% of the value of
consumer payments.
o In India, 87% of all payments are cash based.
o In the UK, 48% of all transactions are carried out in
cash.
Source: Fletcher School, 2014; Payments UK, 2015
What are the conditions required for mobile money to
be successful?
• Supporting infrastructure
- Physical (ie: electricity, roads, agent availability)
- Payments
o Digital
o Cash
- Mobile phone penetration
• Regulation
- Coordination between regulators
- Enabling regulation
• Business consideration
- Business case (inclu. fit to MNO business)
- Access points
- Product suite
• Consumer needs
– Relationship to consumer
– Appropriate data
What are the conditions required for mobile money to
be successful?
• Supporting infrastructure
- Physical (ie: electricity, roads, agent availability)
- Payments
o Digital
o Cash
- Mobile phone penetration
• Regulation
- Coordination between regulators
- Enabling regulation
• Business consideration
- Business case (inclu. fit to MNO business)
- Access points
- Product suite
• Consumer needs
– Relationship to consumer
– Appropriate data
Mobile money is a tough business to
get right!
Profitability of mobile money schemes (as a % of GSM revenue)
Source: GSMA, 2015
What are the conditions required for mobile money to
be successful?
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• Supporting infrastructure
- Physical (ie: electricity, roads, agent availability)
- Payments
o Digital
o Cash
- Mobile phone penetration
• Regulation
- Coordination between regulators
- Enabling regulation
• Business consideration
- Business case (inclu. fit to MNO business)
- Access points
- Product suite
• Consumer needs
– Relationship to consumer
– Appropriate data
Group discussion questions
What are the conditions required for mobile money to
be successful?
• What conditions are required for mobile money to
successfully channel remittances?
– Supporting infrastructure
– Regulatory
– Business conditions
– Consumer needs
• What are examples of key factors going right or wrong?
THANK YOUPlease contact us at…
Barry Cooper
E-mail: [email protected]
Cat Denoon-Stevens
E-mail: [email protected]
Further resources
• GSMA: Almazan, M and Vonthron, N. 2014. Mobile money for the
unbanked: Mobile money profitability: A digital ecosystem to drive
healthy margins. GSMA: London.
• Bester et al. 2016. Lost in the mail: Why bank account access is not
translating into usage. MAP Global Insights Series: Note 4.
• Bester et al. 2016. The king is (not) dead: Why digital payments are
not replacing cash. MAP Global Insights Series: Note 5.
• GSMA. 2015. State of the industry report: Mobile Money. GSMA:
London.