International Mobile Money Transfer Services to Exceed $65bn by 2014
With mobile penetration reaching 100 per cent in many developed markets, the mobile phone will soon be in virtually everyone's pocket. Payments and banking are currently major areas of growth in the mobile world and these are set to become even more specialized than they are at the moment.
According to a new report from Juniper Research the international mobile money transfer market will be worth in excess of US$65 billion by 2014, based on gross transaction values - driven principally from migrant workers based in developed countries.
The huge potential for mobile money transfer can be seen from the sheer volume of cross-border remittances typically sent through existing channels such as banks and money transfer agencies. Measured flows have grown exponentially over the last decade, with an estimated US$248billion sent primarily from industrialised countries to the world's emerging markets in 2007. Although remittance flows are currently experiencing short-term decline, existing services and pilot projects have shown operators a feasible route towards gaining a share of those large remittance flows expected by and new mobile remittance services are expected by 2011 at the latest. Operators and banks in the Middle East, Europe, Asia and Africa are in the process of deploying services primed to encourage and exploit potential growth.
Major operators with international and inter-regional footprints such as Vodafone and Orascom Telecom have announced their intention to deploy mobile remittance, which they hope will act as a catalyst for the wider adoption of mWallet-enabled transaction services. Mobile remittance offers a speedy, cost effective and convenient channel for people to send money regularly to friends and family at home, who themselves may not have bank accounts.
The mobile money transfer report also revealed a new emerging sector for microcredits, saving accounts and insurance payments. Known as "sophisticated financial services" these services are entirely focused on developing countries where users do not have access to traditional banking or financial services or simply use alternative means of payment traditionally such as physically transporting cash, or storing cash savings at home. The report found that is new market for financial services on the mobile, can add to the attractiveness of mobile money services, and help to reduce mobile operator churn.
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