The number of active mobile money accounts worldwide rose by 64 percent to 61 million in June 2013 from 37 million in June 2012, the GSMA announced at the 2014 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

According to the third annual Mobile Financial Services State of the Industry Report, which was produced by the GSMA's Mobile Money for the Unbanked program, the number of registered mobile money accounts nearly tripled from 71 million in June 2011 to 203 million in June 2013. The GSMA report covers mobile money, mobile insurance, mobile credit and savings.

At the end of 2013, there were 219 mobile money services in 84 countries, compared to 179 services in 75 countries at the end of 2012.

"This annual report underscores the enormous impact that mobile money is having in emerging markets, by providing access to increasing numbers of products and services and helping millions of people to manage their daily lives and improve their livelihoods," Tom Phillips, the GSMA's chief regulatory officer, said.

Positive regulatory reforms that are enabling mobile money services are contributing to the growth of the industry in terms of number of deployments, the GSMA says. The majority of services remain in Sub-Saharan Africa, with 52 percent of all live mobile money deployments located in the region. However, mobile money is also expanding outside Africa, with 19 mobile money launches planned in Latin America.

The report highlights the fact that an increasing number of mobile money providers are overcoming operational challenges to create solid distribution networks and a large base of active customers. "Today, 13 services each have more than 1 million active mobile money accounts, and those services that have created solid foundations are moving forward with new products such as bulk payments and merchant payments," the GSMA said.

Financial inclusion

The increased number of mobile money users and access points illustrates the important role of mobile financial services in driving financial inclusion in developing countries.

At the end of 2013, nine countries — Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Kenya, Madagascar, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe — already had more mobile money accounts than bank accounts, compared to just four countries in 2012. In these countries, the mobile money industry has made financial services accessible to more people than the traditional banking industry, the GSMA said.

The development of other mobile financial services, including 123 mobile insurance, mobile credit and savings services, 27 of which were launched in 2013, will allow service providers to deepen financial inclusion by offering financial services beyond money transfer and payments.

Ecosystem development

As mobile money becomes a mainstream product for a growing number of operators, competition is increasing, the GSMA said. At the end of 2013, 52 countries had two or more mobile money services compared to 40 in 2012.

In June 2013, transactions involving external companies using mobile money as a platform to receive and make payments drove the growth in mobile money globally, representing 29 percent of the total value of transactions. These transactions are also growing much faster than airtime top-ups and on-net transfers. In June 2013, 53,000 merchants were accepting payments via mobile money, and 16,000 organizations currently use mobile money as a payment platform for accepting bill payments or making salary payments.