In this webinar, Kalvin Bahia, Mariana Lopez, and Kennedy Kipkemboi Sawe explore the…
Mobile Money
Écoutez maintenant: Le Mobile Money en Afrique : un accélérateur au service de l’inclusion financière
Ce webinaire organisé par Digital Frontiers Institute (DFI) faisait suite à la publication en…
A Digital Financial Services Revolution in Kenya: The M-Pesa Case Study
This case study aims to contribute to the discussion around appropriate regulatory and policy issues…
Scale2Save Case Study: Mobile Financial Services
This study provides an overview of mobile retail financial services in Africa. It identifies some…
Data, Diversify, Distribute: Emerging Optimization Models
2020 brought with it a 12.7 percent increase in the number of registered mobile money accounts, bringing…
Le Mobile Money en Afrique:un accélérateur au service de l’inclusion financière
Promouvoir l’inclusion financière est de plus en plus un axe majeur des politiques économiques en…
Humanitarian Cash and Voucher Assistance Programmes in Ethiopia
This report, in partnership with the Collaborative Cash Delivery (CCD) Network, explores the context and…
What Drives the Financial Inclusion Gender Gap for Young Women?
There are stubborn differences in the rates at which men and women access, use and…
2021 State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money
2020 was a year like no other. In every region of the world, COVID-19 triggered…
What is the Value of Pay-As-You-Go Solar for Mobile Operators?
The rapid growth of pay-as-you-go (PAYG) solar has been enabled by mobile money and mobile…
Are the Effects of Mobile Money Regulation Gender Neutral?
According to the latest Global Findex data (2017), there are 1.7 billion ‘unbanked’ people in…
Exploring the Relationship between Mobile Money Regulation and Usage
Mobile money has helped reduce the financial exclusion gap in low- and middle-income countries, with…
Mobile Money Enabled Cash Assistance: User Journeys in Burundi
Cash and voucher assistance (CVA) has been gaining traction as an increasing number of humanitarian…
The Mobile Economy Sub-Saharan Africa 2020
This report suggests that the Covid-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on the digital…
What Value do Open APIs bring to the Mobile Money Landscape?
GSMA hosted a four-day industry convening, looking at Open APIs in the mobile money industry.…
Hey Sister! Show Me the Mobile Money!
Women’s-Global Development and Prosperity Initiative’s digital financial literacy campaign in Ghana, Malawi and Uganda.
The State of Mobile Internet Connectivity Report 2020
The State of Mobile Internet Connectivity report is the annual flagship publication of the Connected Society…
Tracking Mobile Money Regulatory Responses to COVID-19 – Part 2
This blog, provides an update of the COVID-19 Response Tracker and examines the impact of…
Mobile Money Saving Accounts: Helping the Bottom of the Pyramid to Save in Zimbabwe
This paper on Academia discusses a serious problem confronting Zimbabwe, the savings gap, which essentially…
Mobile for Humanitarian Innovation Podcast Series
Tune in to hear the Mobile for Humanitarian Innovation (M4H) team discuss key issues with…
GSMA Mobile Money API
The GSMA Mobile Money API is an initiative developed through collaboration between the mobile money…
We Need to Support Growth of Digital Assistive Tech Innovation in Africa and Asia
The GSMA Assistive Tech team, together with Urban Emerge, conducted a landscape study to identify digital solutions…
Growing Digital Financial Inclusion in Senegal
In 2014, Mastercard Foundation and UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) formed a partnership to try…
Growing Digital Financial Inclusion in Zambia
In 2014, Mastercard Foundation and UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) formed a partnership to try…
The Causes and Consequences of Mobile Money Taxation
Mobile money taxation is a controversial subject. On the one hand mobile money has been something…
Innovative Mobile Digital Identity Solutions: Financial Inclusion and Birth Registration
This case study looks at two start-ups that are using mobile technology to establish functional…
How Mobile Money is Increasingly Interoperable
Achieving fully interoperable mobile money services that fulfil the needs of customers remains a goal…
MTN MoMo Pay Merchant Payments: Expanding Women’s Mobile Money Use in Ghana
Access to financial services can be a critical driver of economic growth and opportunity. In…
Mobile Money Recommendations to Central Banks in Response to COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about unprecedented challenges for the global economy. It has affected…
Gender and Financial Misconduct: A Field Experiment on Mobile Money
The findings of this study on SSRN raise important issues at the intersection of economics…
Mobile Money Regulatory Index
The Mobile Money Regulatory Index measures regulatory enablers of mobile money adoption. It has been…
The Mobile Gender Gap Report 2020
This third edition of The Mobile Gender Gap Report will consider how women’s mobile access…
The GSMA Inclusive Tech Lab for Mobile Money Interoperability
The GSMA Inclusive Tech Lab has released its Interoperability Test Platform, the first joint test…
State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money 2019
2019 marked a major milestone for the mobile money industry: the number of registered mobile…
Building a Resilient Industry: How Mobile Network Operators Prepare for and Respond to Natural Disasters
Mobile networks and connectivity have become increasingly necessary in times of crisis. They allow us…
The Mobile Money Regulatory Index
In September 2018 GSMA launched the Mobile Money Regulatory Index, an interactive tool that measures…
Proportionate Regulation in Uganda: A Gateway for Refugees Accessing Mobile Services in Their Own Name
The world’s refugee population is growing. Although mobile connectivity is not an antidote to the…
Digitising Payments in Agricultural Value Chains: The Revenue Opportunity to 2025
This report from the GSMA explores the potential revenue opportunity of digitising agricultural payments for…
Navigating the Shift to Digital Humanitarian Assistance: Lessons from the International Rescue Commitee’s Experience
The objective of this case study is to understand the International Rescue Commitees’s (IRC) motivation…
Taxing Mobile Phone Transactions in Africa: Lessons from Kenya
Taxation on mobile phone-based transactions and on airtime has been introduced in Kenya and is…
LISTEN NOW: Developments within the African Mobile Money Market, Focusing on Malawi
A case study on Malawi features as part of DFI’s Leading Digital Money Markets course,…
Harnessing the power of mobile money to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals
This report from GSMA brings together existing evidence to explore the ways in which mobile…
Garment Workers Experience with Wage Digitization in Bangladesh
Microfinance Opportunities, in collaboration with the Social Performance Task Force, conducted research to understand the…
Principles for Digital Payments in Humanitarian Response
Cash transfers in humanitarian response can be leveraged to prioritize emergency needs first and, at…
Taxing mobile phone transactions in Africa Lessons from Kenya
The taxation on mobile phone-based transactions and on airtime has been introduced in Kenya and…
LISTEN NOW: The Digital Lives of Refugees: How displaced populations use mobile phones and what gets in the way?
This webinar discusses research by GSMA with UNHCR which explores the ways in which refugees…
Displaced and Disconnected
UNHCR recognizes that one of the ‘hard stops’ in facilitating mobile connectivity and access to…
Telesom ZAAD: Pushing the mobile money CVA frontier
This case study by the GSMA reveals the promise of mobile money-enabled cash and voucher assistance…
Bangladesh: The Impact of Wage Digitalisation
This study measured the impact of wage digitization on the uptake of mobile money by…
Mobile Money Glossary
This glossary by GSMA provides definitions for common mobile money industry terminology in English, French…
LISTEN NOW: Is mobile money the future of cash and voucher assistance (CVA)?
Billions of dollars in humanitarian cash and voucher assistance (CVA) programmes are currently delivered annually, and…
Handbooks for use of mobile money enabled cash and voucher assistance (CVA) programmes
Billions of dollars in humanitarian cash and voucher assistance (CVA) programmes are currently delivered annually, and…
The Mobile Gender Gap Report 2019
The GSMA’s Mobile Gender Gap Report 2019 outlines the changes in the gender gap among…
How Mobile Money Agents Can Expand Financial Inclusion
Boston Consulting Group have put together an interesting article outlining how agent networks have made…
Sizing the mobile gender gap in refugee contexts
GSMA has done a lot of research showing the gender gap in mobile phone ownership…
The case for mobile money enabled cash and voucher assistance (CVA) programming
The humanitarian sector has been evaluating the distribution of cash during times of crisis, and…
The ICAEW Economic Update: Quarterly Economic Forecast
ICAEW produce quarterly economic forecasts and insights for global regions for those in the finance…
Innovative Mobile Solutions Linking Health and Identity
This case study explores four innovative mobile-enabled health solutions in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia which…
E-Transfer Implementation Guide
The E-transfer Implementation Guide was created for Mercy Corps team members considering – or already…
Payments as a platform: The future of mobile money
The GSMA reviews the mobile money business model and the journey to a platform-based model.…
Small Businesses and Digital Financial Services
Micro, Small, and Medium-Sized Enterprises are the backbone of vibrant and dynamic economies. But they…
Customer-Centric Guide
The CGAP Customer-Centric guide explores retention, acquisition, and expansion of product use by customers, making recommendations on…
Spotlight on mobile-enabled insurance services
This report by the GSMA provides an overview of the mobile-enabled micro-insurance industry, to support…
Cybersecurity for Mobile Financial Services
This deck provides an overview of cybersecurity issues in mobile financial services. It addresses the…
Which financial needs can be (and should be) addressed by DFS?
It’s been more than ten years since Kenyan mobile operator Safaricom launched M-PESA, one of…
What are the roles of intermediated and shared use?
Not everyone uses digital finance as it was originally intended; digital financial services (DFS) have…
What makes a successful commercial partnership?
Delivering digital finance typically requires a complex web of partnerships and coordination. A digital finance…
Interoperability in East Africa: Dispatches from the Home of Mobile Money
The presenation shows that success of interoperability depends on finding the right balance between governance,…
Digital Solutions for Analogue Agents
Mobile and financial technology might be advancing rapidly, but agent networks are still largely unchanged.…
Using Trusts to Protect Customers’ Mobile Money Funds
Mobile money is a payment and storage service that uses ‘e-money’—a form of stored value…
Protecting Customers’ Mobile Money Funds in Civil Law Jurisdictions
This briefing note explores how regulators can protect such customers’ funds from loss in a…
Mobile Telephony, Financial Inclusion, and Inclusive Growth
The paper employs the multipurpose nature of mobile telephony to investigate its welfare implications using a…
More Phones, More Transfers?
This case study from Save the Children’s Emergency Food Security Program explores the use of…
Tiny Loans Big Questions: Client Protection in Mobile Consumer Credit
Very small instant consumer loans have ballooned from 11 deployments in 2011, to 52 in…
Guidelines on International Remittances through Mobile Money
This set of guidelines illustrates how the mobile money industry is collaborating to ensure international…
Managing Cash-based Programmes in a Volatile Markets Context
This case study from Care International explores the first large-scale humanitarian cash programme in Zimbabwe…
Mobile Money Payment Toolkit for Utility Service Providers
Today, utility service providers are delivering essential services to communities. Increasingly, the use of mobile…
The Mobile Economy Sub-Saharan Africa
The mobile industry in Sub-Saharan Africa continues to scale rapidly, reaching 367 million subscribers in…
Digital Wallet Adoption for the Oral Segment in India: Concept Development for MoWo (Mobile Wallet for Oral)
“Orality” refers to the modes of thinking, speaking and managing information in societies where technologies…
‘Leapfrogging’: a Survey of the Nature and Economic Implications of Mobile Money
Mobile money is a recent financial innovation giving financial transaction services via a mobile phone,…
Riding the Rails of Mobile Payments: Financial Inclusion, Mobile Phones, and Infrastructure
This chapter on riding the rails of mobile payments analyzes payments as both technical and…
Driving a price revolution: Mobile money in international remittances
In August 2016, the GSMA commissioned an independent data collection exercise to assess the impact…
Mobile money crosses borders: New remittance models in West Africa
A promising new model is emerging for cross-border remittances with mobile money as both the…
Decade Edition of the State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money
With the State of the Industry Report on Mobile Financial Services now in its sixth…
The Impact of Mobile Money Interoperability in Tanzania
The publication highlights the impact of mobile money interoperability in Tanzania, focusing on early data…
Digital Finance for All: Powering Inclusive Growth in Emerging Economies
A report from the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI), Digital finance for all: Powering inclusive growth in emerging economies,…
Payment Mechanisms and Anti-Poverty Programs: Evidence from a Mobile Money Cash Transfer Experiment in Niger
Cash transfers have become an increasingly important component of social protection policies in both developed…
Managing a Mobile Money Agent Network
This article from the GSMA explores how mobile operators can ensure that the agent networks…
Mobile Money Business Models
This presentation from the Payments Innovation Working group explores the three core business models for…
Expanding the Ecosystem of Mobile Money: Considerations for Interoperability
This note from the GSMA discusses interoperability in broad terms as the interconnection of mobile…
Understanding the potential of the mobile money ecosystem
For GSMA, the mobile money ecosystem includes mobile money providers and all third party organisations…
Mobile money profitability: A digital ecosystem to drive healthy margins
The path to profitability. Beyond these bright lights in the industry, MNOs still have limited…
Mobile money crosses borders: New remittance models in West Africa
A promising new model is emerging for cross-border remittances with mobile money as both the…
International Remittance Service Providers
This report from the GSMA gives an overview of mobile International Remittance Service Provider service…
Landscape Study on International Remittances through Mobile
CGAP’s commissioned a ‘refresh’ on an earlier landscaping study for international remittances through mobile money.…
An Emerging Platform: From Money Transfer System to Mobile Money Ecosystem.
While it has often been described as a money transfer product, when mobile money reaches…
USAID/Philippines Scaling Innovations In Mobile Money (Simm) Project
From October 2012 through March 2013, SIMM focused its efforts in forging partnerships with its…
Mobile Money Regulation: Is more regulation better?
This presentation by the GSMA looks at the role of regulation and its influence on the…
Enabling Mobile Money Policies in Kenya: Fostering a Digital Financial Revolution
This case study from the GSMA traces the early stages of mobile money development in…
Proportional risk-based AML/CFT regimes for mobile money: A framework for assessing risk factors and mitigation measures
This publication from GSMA aims to help regulators understand the risks posed by mobile money…
Mobile Money: Methodology for Assessing Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Risks
Mobile money services are currently being deployed in many markets across the world. There is…
Understanding Financial Regulation And How It Works
This paper from GSMA gives an overview of financial regulation including AML and KYC in…
Safeguarding Mobile Money
This paper from the GSMA focuses on how regulators can effectively safeguard customer funds when…
Supervision of Banks and Nonbanks Operating through Agents
To date, limited research has been undertaken about how providers identify, classify, and manage risks…
The Mobile Money Revolution: NFC Mobile Payments
Mobile money refers to financial transactions and services that can be carried out using a…
A Secure Operational Model for Mobile Payments
This paper explores a secure model for mobile payments. Instead of paying by cash, check,…
Easypaisa Mobile Money Innovation in Pakistan
EASYPAISA a mobile money service launched in Pakistan in 2009, serves more than five million…
Digital Financial Inclusion- an ICT perspective
Mobile financial services have become an important driver of financial inclusion in a growing number…
Platforms for Successful Mobile Money Service
Based on extensive research of mobile money service providers and platform vendors, this paper by…
Segmenting Your Mobile Money Customer Base to Drive Usage
This presentation from GSMA will provide new tools for operators to drive regular usage by…
mWomen Marketing Handbook
This handbook is part of a portfolio of tools available to help mobile network operators…
Mobile Money in the Philippines – The Market, the Models and Regulation
This case study from the GMSA explores the Philippines and its place among the most…
Reaching Half of the Market: Women and Mobile Money
To reach scale and impact in their operations, mobile money operators cannot ignore women, who…
M-PESA Case Study
M-PESA was the first product of its kind to be introduced in Kenya and is…
Drivers of digital financial services inactivity in Côte d’Ivoire
Côte d’Ivoire is the largest Digital Financial Services market in the West African Economic and…
Marketing Mobile Money: Top 3 Challenges
This presentation from the GSMA explores the top 3 challenges in marketing mobile money: 1) segmenting…
A Note on Macro-Financial Implications of Mobile Money Schemes
Across the world mobile money schemes are being launched. In such schemes financial service providers…
Designing Successful Distribution Strategies for Digital Money
This paper by Ignacio Mas documents the variety of ways in which digital financial service…
Exploring Business Pathways to Digital Financial Inclusion: Early Indications from a Field Visit to Ghana and Tanzania
This report by David Porteous and Ignacio Mas contains an initial evaluation of the opportunities…
Enabling Different Paths to Development of Mobile Money Ecosystems
Building a successful mobile money system requires a complex ecosystem of players handling a large…
Searching for Metaphors of Household Financial Management
This report from Ignacio Mas summarizes the intent, activities, outputs and key lessons from an…
The Utility of Retail Payments in Addressing the Financial Inclusion Gap in Developing Countries
This paper by Ignacio Mas outlines the role of mobile phones in addressing the financial…
Smart Banknotes: A Proposal for Bank Notes that Bridge the Gap Between Physical and Electronic Money
Cash imposes large costs on society, yet it is hard to envision moving to an…
Why Doesn’t Every Kenyan Business Have a Mobile Money Account?
The contribution of mobile payments (and in particular M-PESA) in Kenya to strengthening family/social networks…
Where’s the Cash? The Geography of Cash Points in Tanzania
The Financial Sector Deepening Trust of Tanzania (FSDT) has conducted two censuses of cash outlets…
Bridges to Cash: The Retail End of M-PESA
M-PESA is a remarkably successful mobile payments system launched in Kenya three years ago. Users…
Three Keys to M-PESA’s Success: Branding, Channel Management and Pricing
M-PESA, a mobile-phone based electronic payments system, has been adopted by 8.5 million Kenyans in…
Regulating New Banking Models that can bring Financial Services to All
Technology, and in particular the spread of real-time communications networks, permits banks to delegate ‘last…
Designing Mobile Money Services: Lessons from M-PESA
This paper by Ignacio Mas presents ten key service design features that have facilitated the…
Beyond Products: Building Integrated Customer Experiences on Mobile Phones
With today’s mobile money platforms, the value proposition for keeping money digital and driving up…
Savings as forward Payments: Innovations on Mobile Money Platforms
This paper by Ignacio Mas presents a new framework which allows people to manage their…
Branchless and Mobile Banking Solutions for the Poor: A Survey of the Literature
This paper by Ignacio Mas and others reviews the growing literature that has spawned around…
The impact of API maturity on the Financial Inclusion agenda
This paper contextualizes the value of ‘open’ and ‘mature’ APIs and what that means. It…
An Empirical Examination of Why Mobile Money Schemes Ignite in Some Developing Countries but Flounder in Most
Mobile money schemes have grown rapidly in some developing countries but failed in many more.…
Mobile Money the Next Wave of Growth
This year’s report from EY draws on detailed research and client insights from EY industry…
Enhancing the Growth of Plastic Cards in Kenya
Use of credit and debit cards in Kenya has grown substantially over the years with…
Mobile Money Services – Design and Development for Financial Inclusion
Mobile money services are being deployed rapidly across emerging markets as a key tool to…
10 Ways to Accelerate Mobile Money
Mobile money can transform the lives of 1.8 billion people who have access to a…
Can Electronic Transfers Help the Poor? Evidence from a Field Experiment
Conditional and unconditional cash transfers have become an increasingly important component of social protection policies…
IFC Mobile Money Toolkit
IFC’s Mobile Money Toolkit is a combination of both the best publicly available information and…
Pathways to Smarter Digital Financial Inclusion
We can now easily imagine a situation within the next ten years where most people…
Payment APIs: What, Why, and for Whom? An Introduction to Payment Interfaces & the Kenyan Market
Open Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) are a necessary component of a robust digital ecosystem, and…
Managing the Risk of Fraud in Mobile Money
This paper outlines a framework to managing fraud and risk. The four key elements of…
Privacy and Security Concerns Associated with Mobile Money Applications in Africa
The rapid adoption of mobile money use in Africa raises concerns regarding the privacy and…
Money Resolutions, Digital Simulations
This paper explores how the broad financial decision-making practices commonly employed by poor people (as…
Mobile Money Product Adoption Life Cycle
This paper explains how product diffusion and the related technology adoption curve can explain why some mobile…
Digitizing the Kaleidoscope of Informal Financial Practices
This paper contrasts the psychological and cultural richness of informal savings mechanisms with the simpler,…
Scaling Mobile Money
Retail payment systems require scale to get off the ground and struggle to grow incrementally,…
Product Innovations on Mobile Money
This paper conducts a thorough review of the state of product development and innovation on…
2015 State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money
This report focuses on the state of the mobile money sector and industry trends, covering:…
The Next Digital Finance Frontier: Filling the Accounts
It is commonly accepted that poor people find value in remote digital payments propositions. A…
Balancing Financial Integrity with Financial Inclusion: The Risk-Based Approach to “Know Your Customer”
Recognizing the importance of financial inclusion as a policy objective, regulators have endorsed the use…
Code of Conduct for Mobile Money Providers
This Code of Conduct identifies principles aimed at promoting mobile money providers’ adoption of consistent…
Operational Guidelines for Interoperability: A Customer-centric Approach
This publication sets out operational guidelines for mobile money providers to consider when introducing an…
Cheaper, Faster, Better? A Case Study of New Technologies in Cash Transfers from the Democratic Republic of Congo
This study from Mercy Corps compares three different cash transfer mechanisms used in one humanitarian…
Global Standard-Setting Bodies and Financial Inclusion for the Poor Toward Proportionate Standards and Guidance
Together, the normative standards and advisory guidance of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS),…
Regulating Transformational Branchless Banking: Mobile Phones and Other Technology to Increase Access to Finance
This paper discusses issues related to regulation of branchless banking targeting the unbanked poor. Based…