Mobile Money usage Spreads in Africa

AFRICA is the continent where “mobile money”—monetary transactions on mobile phones—is by far the most advanced. According to a new survey of financial habits by the Gates Foundation, the World Bank and Gallup, in 20 countries more than 10% of adults said that they had used mobile money at some point in the previous 12 months; 15 of those countries were in Africa. For the most part, mobile phones are a substitute for traditional banks, enabling people who live miles from a branch or ATM to use financial services. This is especially important in a country like Somalia, which lacks a functioning government but where 34% of adults use mobile money (often to receive remittances from family members abroad). But sometimes, mobile banking seems to go hand in hand with the spread of traditional banking. In Kenya, where a staggering 68% of adults use mobile money (by far the highest rate in the world), half also have paper-based bank accounts.

Nigeria and Ghana will see increased widespread usage of mobile money over the next three years after the Central Banks in both countries have released policy guidelines and telecoms companies are deploying infrastructure to tap into the growing phenomenom.
Its not surprising that Kenya has the highest mobile money users in the world. It was Kenya that pioneered mobile money transfers through M-Pesa.
 
*Story culled from The Economists. Additional inputs from youthhubafrica