LONDON—Mobile money hit a new milestone In 2021 as the value of transactions processed globally surpassed $1 trillion for the first time, according to a report released by the GSM Association, which tracks data in the mobile telecommunications industry.
A rise in merchant payments, international remittances, and governmental humanitarian assistance are some of the factors that led to the 31% growth in transaction value over 2020, Quartz Africa said in its analysis.
According to GSMA, which has released 10 consecutive annual reports, there were 316 mobile money services in 98 countries last year, compared to 169 in 71 countries in 2012.
“As more service providers launch, agents also proliferate, from just over 500,000 a decade ago to 5.6 million last year,” the report said. “Having more agents means more people can sign up for mobile money accounts; registered mobile money accounts went up 10-fold to 1.35 billion within the decade.”
While less than half of these accounts were active on a 90 or 30-day basis last year, there are 10 times more today than there were a decade ago, Quartz Africa said.