New Research Finds Mobile Financial Tools Boost Inclusion in Emerging Markets

The use of mobile devices to make retail and store payments will drive financial inclusion for unbanked people in emerging markets, a new report from Juniper Research has forecasted. The research, “Mobile Financial Services in Emerging Markets: Mobile Money, Loans, Savings & Insurance 2018-2023,” forecasts that mobile merchant transactions by unbanked individuals in emerging markets like Kenya and India will grow from 1.8 billion annually in 2018 to 3.8 billion by 2023.

According to a press release, Juniper Research says mobile merchant payments make digital transactions accessible to a much broader segment of society by forgoing traditional infrastructure like point-of-sale devices. The release cites Safaricom, Kenya’s leading mobile network operator, M-Pesa as a product that has already driven merchant enrollment in digital payments over 100,00. It predicts merchant payment transactions in the Middle East and Africa alone will surpass $16 billion annually by 2023.

ETA member Mastercard is identified as a prominent innovator in merchant acceptance for mobile payments in emerging markets, according to the press release. Its QR code-based payments solution has launched with the aim of connecting 40 million micro and small merchants to its payments network by the end of 2020, the release said.