Mobile Money Global Growth: Key Insights from the GSMA Industry Report 2025

Understanding Mobile Money Global Growth in 2025

Mobile money global growth has reached a transformative inflection point. The GSMA State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money 2025 reveals that the mobile money ecosystem processed an extraordinary $1.68 trillion in transactions during 2024, representing a 16% year-on-year surge that underscores the sector’s deepening role in global financial infrastructure. For hundreds of millions of people across Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and East Asia, mobile money is not merely a convenience—it is the primary gateway to formal financial services.

The report draws on data from the GSMA Global Adoption Survey 2024, a comprehensive consumer survey spanning 12 countries, and the Mobile Money Deployment Tracker, which monitors over 300 live services worldwide. What emerges is a picture of an industry that has matured beyond basic peer-to-peer transfers into a full digital financial ecosystem encompassing merchant payments, credit, savings, insurance, and cross-border remittances. This analysis provides crucial context for anyone tracking global fintech developments and digital transformation in emerging economies.

At its core, mobile money global growth is driven by a powerful combination of expanding mobile phone penetration, supportive regulatory frameworks, and an increasingly sophisticated agent network that brings financial access to the last mile. The numbers tell a compelling story: 108 billion individual transactions in 2024, a 20% volume increase, flowing through an ecosystem that now reaches every inhabited continent.

Mobile Money Accounts Surpass Two Billion Milestone

One of the headline findings of the GSMA report is that registered mobile money accounts reached 2.1 billion in 2024, growing 14% year-on-year. This milestone reflects not just expanding reach but deepening adoption across diverse markets. Active monthly accounts (30-day usage) stood at 514 million, an 11% increase, while 780 million accounts showed activity within a 90-day window.

The activity metrics reveal important nuances about mobile money global growth. In mobile money countries, 21 out of every 100 adults used a mobile money account within the preceding 90 days by December 2024—more than double the equivalent figure in 2018. Sub-Saharan Africa leads the charge, with active 90-day accounts as a percentage of SIM connections rising from 10% in 2014 to 39% in 2024. This demonstrates how deeply mobile money has embedded itself into daily economic life.

However, the global monthly activity rate—active 30-day accounts as a percentage of total registered accounts—dipped slightly from 25.1% in 2023 to 24.6% in 2024. This reflects a growing phenomenon where registered-account growth has outpaced active-account growth since 2021, partly driven by aggressive registration campaigns in newer markets. Regional variations are stark: Latin America and the Caribbean maintained the highest monthly activity rate at 32.1%, followed by Sub-Saharan Africa at 26.3% and South Asia at 23.0%.

East Asia and the Pacific, home to 428 million registered accounts representing 20% of the global total, showed particularly encouraging signs. It was one of the few regions where active 30-day accounts grew faster than registered accounts (18% versus 14%), suggesting genuine user adoption rather than mere sign-up inflation. For investors and policymakers evaluating digital economy investment trends, these engagement metrics offer meaningful signals about sustainable fintech growth.

Mobile Money Global Growth: $1.68 Trillion in Transactions

The sheer scale of mobile money transactions in 2024 is staggering. The $1.68 trillion in processed value represents not just incremental growth but a fundamental shift in how emerging-market economies handle money. Transaction volumes reached 108 billion individual transfers, growing 20% year-on-year—outpacing the 16% value growth and indicating expanding use for smaller, everyday transactions.

Ecosystem transactions—those occurring between mobile money and other digital services such as merchant payments, bill payments, and bulk disbursements—grew their combined value by 20% year-on-year. Meanwhile, non-ecosystem transactions (primarily peer-to-peer transfers and cash operations) grew at a still-healthy 15%. This divergence highlights a key trend: mobile money is evolving from a simple transfer mechanism into a comprehensive digital payments infrastructure.

The commercial viability of this growth is reflected in provider economics. Average monthly revenue per user (ARPU) climbed from $2.86 in September 2023 to $3.51 by June 2024. The share of providers reporting positive EBITDA rose from approximately 73% to 80%, while some 45% of respondents reported EBITDA margins exceeding 25%. These are numbers that increasingly resemble mainstream financial services rather than experimental tech ventures.

Revenue composition is also maturing. Approximately 80% of survey respondents cited customer fees as their main revenue source, but the mix is shifting as ecosystem transactions generate commissions, interchange, and revenue-sharing arrangements with partners. Safaricom’s M-PESA now accounts for 42.4% of group revenue, up from 33% in fiscal year 2021, while Airtel Money contributes 16.81% of its parent’s revenue. The GSMA Mobile Money Metrics portal provides detailed breakdowns of these growth trajectories across different market segments.

Agent Networks Driving Mobile Money Expansion

The backbone of mobile money global growth remains the extensive agent network that provides physical access points, particularly in underserved areas. By 2024, registered mobile money agents reached 28 million globally, a 20% increase, with 10 million agents active on a monthly basis (up 17%). These agents processed $356 billion in cash-in transactions—representing over half of all funds entering the mobile money ecosystem.

Agent density has improved dramatically. In mobile money countries, there are now 755 registered agents per 100,000 adults, double the ratio recorded in 2021. This density is critical because it determines whether users can conveniently convert between cash and digital value. In rural and peri-urban settings, agents often serve as the sole financial access point, making them more accessible than bank branches, ATMs, or post offices.

The economics of agent networks are evolving. Agent commissions as a percentage of provider income declined from 45% to 41% between 2023 and 2024, reflecting operational efficiencies as digital transactions increasingly bypass the cash-in/cash-out step. However, agent networks remain essential for onboarding new users, handling KYC verification, and providing trust anchors in communities where digital literacy remains limited.

Notably, bank-to-mobile (B2M) transfers grew 24% year-on-year to reach $127 billion, significantly outpacing the 12% growth in agent cash-in volumes. This signals a structural shift: users are increasingly funding their mobile money accounts directly from bank transfers rather than through physical agent visits—a trend that simultaneously validates the growing interconnection between traditional banking and mobile money infrastructure.

Merchant Payments and Ecosystem Growth

Merchant payments represent one of the most dynamic fronts in mobile money global growth. Customers paid more than $100 billion to merchants via mobile money in 2024, a 21% year-on-year increase. This figure exceeds three times the value of international remittances processed through mobile money, illustrating how deeply the technology has penetrated everyday commerce.

The expansion of QR code-based payments is accelerating adoption. In East Asia and the Pacific, 85% of survey respondents allowed QR code-based merchant payments, compared to 67% in South Asia and 37% in Sub-Saharan Africa. Cambodia’s KHQR standardized code system, launched in 2022, and Myanmar’s MMQR for real-time retail payments demonstrate how regulatory and industry coordination can catalyze merchant payment adoption.

International remittances through mobile money grew to $34 billion in 2024, making it the fastest-growing ecosystem transaction by value with a 28% growth rate—compared to just 0.7% for remittances overall. The cost advantage is significant: the average mobile money remittance fee stands at 3.54%, roughly half the global average of 6.35%. More than 50% of mobile money services now charge less than 3% to transfer $200, exceeding the UN Sustainable Development Goal 10.c target.

Bill payments rebounded strongly in 2024, increasing by $16 billion after a decline the previous year, while bulk disbursements recovered by $14 billion. These patterns suggest that mobile money platforms are becoming preferred rails for government-to-person payments, salary disbursements, and utility collections—roles traditionally occupied by banking infrastructure.

Mobile Money Global Growth in Adjacent Financial Services

Perhaps the most striking dimension of mobile money global growth is the rapid expansion into adjacent financial services. Between 2023 and 2024, the proportion of providers offering credit nearly doubled from 24% to 44%. Savings products grew from 23% to 34% of providers, and insurance offerings expanded from 19% to 28%. These are not marginal additions—they represent a fundamental transformation of mobile money from a payments tool into a comprehensive financial services platform.

Consumer uptake is matching supply-side expansion. In Uganda, mobile money lending usage jumped from 15% to 29% of users. Ethiopia saw credit usage rise from 2% to 14%, while Pakistan went from 3% to 15%. The number of unique customers receiving loans through mobile money grew 50% between September 2023 and June 2024, with monthly loan disbursement volumes increasing approximately 54% over the same period.

Savings behavior is expanding even more dramatically. Nigeria recorded the largest absolute increase, with mobile money savings usage jumping from 40% to 71%. Indonesia leaped from 9% to 52%, and India from 8% to 35%. Cumulative unique customers using savings features grew 80% year-on-year, with female savers growing 91%. These trends indicate that mobile money is fulfilling its promise as a platform for broader financial inclusion, not just transaction processing.

Insurance, while growing from a smaller base, shows similar potential. Kenya’s mobile money insurance usage rose from 17% to 24%, while Indonesia moved from 2% to 11%. A remarkable 85% of insurance-offering mobile money providers now deliver life, funeral cover, and health insurance products. In Mali, OKO’s weather index insurance for smallholder farmers, distributed through Orange Money’s USSD menu, has insured over 26,000 farms and generated more than $700,000 in premiums since 2018.

Interoperability and Bank Linkages

Interoperability remains a critical enabler of mobile money global growth, and the data shows significant progress. Bank-to-mobile transfers reached $127 billion in 2024, growing 24% year-on-year—the highest growth rate among interoperable flows. Mobile-to-bank transfers totaled $125 billion, up 17%. Between 2020 and 2024, B2M transfers consistently grew faster than agent cash-in volumes, signaling a structural shift toward digital funding channels.

The regulatory environment for interoperability is increasingly supportive. According to the GSMA survey, 68% of respondents rated the interoperability environment as “more enabling” in 2024, while only 14% found it less enabling. Fiji’s Reserve Bank integrated mobile money providers into the national FIJICLEAR switch in 2024, enabling seamless cross-provider transfers—a model that other Pacific island nations may replicate.

This growing interconnection between mobile money and banking systems has profound implications for understanding how digital asset infrastructure and capital markets might evolve in emerging economies. The trust networks built by mobile money could serve as foundation layers for more sophisticated financial products, from tokenized savings to programmable payments.

Cross-border interoperability, however, presents ongoing challenges. Only 45% of respondents rated cross-border data transfer environments as “more enabling,” with 22% describing conditions as “less enabling.” Similarly, investment environment sentiment was mixed, with just 43% rating it as improving. These figures suggest that while domestic interoperability is progressing well, international corridors require further policy attention and harmonization efforts.

Regulatory Trends Shaping Mobile Money Global Growth

The policy landscape for mobile money global growth is broadly positive but uneven. The GSMA survey reveals that KYC (68% more enabling), licensing (67%), and agent network regulation (66%) all received strong positive ratings. Consumer protection is also improving, with 64% of respondents rating it as more enabling—though the 30% neutral response suggests room for more decisive regulatory action.

Pricing regulation is an emerging area of intervention. While most markets, particularly in Africa, leave pricing to market forces, notable exceptions appeared in 2024. The Bank of Tanzania issued fee guidelines for nonbank payment providers in July 2024, and the Bank of Zambia prohibited unwarranted fees on electronic money services in August 2024. These interventions reflect growing government attention to mobile money affordability as the services become essential infrastructure.

Fraud and security represent significant regulatory concerns. A striking 71% of mobile money providers consider law enforcement authorities “not so effective” in combating fraud, with most fraud detected through customer complaints rather than proactive monitoring. Nigeria’s NIBSS reported a 112% surge in fraud cases in 2023, spanning impersonation, insider fraud, cyberfraud, and agent fraud categories. The Central Bank of Nigeria responded by announcing plans to integrate financial literacy into school curricula.

Financial health and over-indebtedness risks are drawing regulatory scrutiny. Default rates on mobile money loans remain alarmingly high—86% in Kenya and 70% in Tanzania. However, research also shows digital loans provide genuine economic value: in Ghana, 65% of borrowers reported that mobile loans helped them address both urgent and long-term financial challenges. This duality demands nuanced regulation that protects consumers without stifling access to credit for underserved populations. For context on how regulatory frameworks shape digital finance more broadly, the ECB’s digital euro preparation report offers instructive parallels.

Closing the Mobile Money Gender Gap

The GSMA’s consumer survey data reveals that the mobile money gender gap remains a significant challenge for achieving truly inclusive financial access. Of the 12 countries surveyed, 8 showed meaningful gender disparities in account ownership. Pakistan leads the gap, with men 70% more likely than women to own a mobile money account. Ethiopia (59%), Egypt (58%), India (58%), and Bangladesh (56%) follow close behind.

Encouragingly, some markets demonstrate that the gap can be closed. Kenya and Tanzania show near-parity, with gender gaps of just 1%. The Philippines actually exhibits a reverse gap, with more women (41%) than men (35%) owning mobile money accounts—suggesting that cultural, economic, and policy contexts play decisive roles in shaping gender outcomes.

A critical finding is that once women have accounts, they use them at rates comparable to men. In Kenya, 95% of women account holders were active within 30 days, compared to 98% of men. This suggests the primary barrier is access and registration, not utility or relevance. The challenge lies in the barriers to initial adoption: cash preference, family disapproval (affecting 39% of women in Pakistan versus 12% of men), lack of digital skills (47% of women in India versus 17% of men), and reliance on family members’ accounts.

The dependency gap is particularly telling. In Pakistan, 57% of women require help using mobile money, compared to 24% of men. Kenya shows the largest relative gap: 38% of women need assistance versus just 8% of men. Addressing digital literacy alongside account access is therefore essential for sustainable mobile money global growth that truly serves all populations.

Socio-Economic Impact of Mobile Money Global Growth

The macroeconomic evidence for mobile money’s transformative impact is now substantial. By the end of 2023, the aggregate GDP of countries with mobile money services was approximately $720 billion higher than it would have been without these services—an implied GDP increase of roughly 1.7%. In Sub-Saharan Africa, this contribution rose from $150 billion in 2022 to $190 billion in 2023, demonstrating accelerating economic impact.

At the micro level, mobile money is enabling entirely new economic models. The pay-as-you-go (PAYG) solar sector illustrates this brilliantly: more than 490 million people globally now use solar products funded through mobile money installments. The off-grid energy sector has attracted over $425 million in investment and constitutes 25% of all African startup funding since 2023. M-Kopa, partnering with Safaricom’s M-PESA, had sold more than 1,000 electric bikes in Kenya by mid-2024.

Agricultural insurance represents another frontier. In Ethiopia, the Lersha platform, supported by the GSMA Innovation Fund, onboarded nearly 20,000 farmers for loans bundled with crop insurance. Insurance claim payouts surged from 69 in Q1 2023 to over 11,100 farmers in Q1 2024—a remarkable scaling of risk protection in a country where insurance penetration is estimated at just 0.3%. Given that smallholder farmers produce 95% of Ethiopia’s agricultural output, mobile money-enabled insurance could fundamentally reshape food security economics.

Digital financial literacy initiatives are gaining traction, with approximately 60% of providers implementing dedicated programs. In the Solomon Islands, the M-Selen program has deployed over 100 youth champions across nearly every province, achieving a 46% female customer base and enrolling roughly 10% of the population. These community-based approaches, combined with the broader evolution of financial management tools, suggest that mobile money’s next chapter will focus as much on financial health as on financial access.