Domestic Money Transfer Market to Exceed $500bn for Mobile Transactions by 2018, Driven by P2P Services

Hampshire, UK – October 2016: A new study from Juniper Research has found that the value of domestic money transfers, including operator money and social media money services, will reach $520 billion in mobile transactions by 2018, up nearly 200% from an estimated $178 billion last year.

According to the new research, Digital Money Transfer & Remittances: Domestic & International Markets 2016-2021, by 2018 the share of domestic money transfer services, by mobile transaction values are forecast to be:

• Domestic P2P: 45%
• Cash-In: 21%
• Cash-Out: 17%
• Bulk Disbursement (G2P): 14%
• Domestic Airtime Top-Up: 2%

Typically P2P (person to person) domestic transfers show higher usage in developing markets, including M-Pesa, Airtel Money, Orange Money and MTN Mobile Money, supplemented by users making social transfers in developed markets via services such as Venmo and WeChat. However, the bulk of activity is currently occurring via WeChat and Alipay within China, with growth fostered by ‘red envelope’ promotions at the Lunar New Year.

Regulation Still a Challenge for Mobile Money Operators

The research argued that over-regulation continues to be a key inhibitor in the licensing process for mobile money services. “This can be complex, both in terms of the number and nature of licences that are required by service providers. Additionally, the services which the national government (often via its central bank) will permit a service provider to offer vary significantly”, report author Nitin Bhas added.

In some markets, regulations for mobile money transfer may simply not have been defined, or may be in the process of being defined and then applied retrospectively.

Furthermore, existing rules may stipulate that only financial institutions may possess money licences, thereby inhibiting the opportunity for players such as MNO (Mobile Network Operators).

Other key findings include:

• In 2015, Africa & Middle East had 235m registered mobile money users, representing the largest share of the global market.
• International remittances via mobile will exceed $25bn by 2018, driven by higher value mobile transactions.