Page 29 - State-of-the-Industry-2013

Part 1 - mOBile mOney

the state of mobile

money access

Key findings
• The number of mobile money agent outlets grew rapidly in 2013 (71.5%), reaching 886,000in
June 2013.

• Mobile money agents remain the most popular distribution channel for mobile money al-
though an increasing number of services also use ATMs.
• In many markets, agents rather than banks are becoming the face of the fnancial industry:
mobile money outlets outnumber bank branches in over 80% of markets in our survey.

• However, a major challenge for the industry will be ensuring agent activity and quality of ser-
vice at the point of sales.

What does mobile money distribution look like in 2013?

The number of mobile money agent outlets continued to grow quickly in 2013 at an annualized
growth rate of 71.5%, reaching 886,000 in June. One major trend we observed is the growth of the 886k
average size of an agent network. this year, the majority of mobile money deployments had more than
2,000 outlets compared to less than 50% in 2012 and less than one-third in 2011. traditionally, every
mobile money provider builds and manages its own network of mobile money agents, although in mobile money
some cases agents can service multiple deployments in one market. agent outlets

In 2013, we began to see agent-sharing models becoming formalized, with service providers recruiting and managing agents that other
companies use to deliver their own mobile money services. examples of this model already exist in nepal, nigeria, and zambia . this
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emerging trend highlights an interesting alternative for operators seeking to manage their cost structure.
Globally, agents remain the most popular distribution channel for mobile money. in addition to mobile money agents, 22.7% of
respondents also used atms as cash-in and/or cash-out points in june 2013, almost twice as many as in September 2012. indeed, atms
can be an attractive complement to a traditional network of agents: they are available 24 hours a day / 7 days a week, and usually have
enough liquidity to support cash-outs. Some atms also enable cash-ins, but in most cases, they are used as alternative cash-out points. in
three markets—Brazil, indonesia, and thailand—more than 40,000 atms can be used to perform mobile money cash-ins and cash-outs.
this approach seems to be especially popular in the east asia and Pacifc region and in latin america and the Caribbean. in Brazil, indone-
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sia, and thailand, the number of atms per 100,000 adults is 118.6, 36.4, and 84.2 respectively. in june 2013, atms processed 1.5% of the
total number of cash-ins to and cash-outs from mobile money accounts.

16. Gunnar Camner, “Banks in nepal are building interoperable mobile money oferings” (november 25, 2013), available at http://www.gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment/banks-in-nepal-are-building-interoperable-mobile-
money-oferings
17. henry ifeanyi, “nigerian mobile money service Paga launches agent network unit” (december 10, 2013), available at http://www.itwebafrica.com/mobile/319-nigeria/232125-nigerian-mobile-money-service-pa-
ga-launches-agent-network-unit#sthash.j2SdCh8P.dpuf
18. jared Worley, “the Power Of Partnerships: airtel money now Powered By zoona” (October 10, 2013), available at http://branchlessbanking.co/the-power-of-partnerships-airtel-money-now-powered-by-zoona
19. 2013 indicators from the imF Financial access Survey (FaS) database. available at http://fas.imf.org
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