Global South nations on cusp of mobile money evolution
WorldRemit is predicting that 2020 is the year global South countries will push forward with mobile money
Global South nations on cusp of mobile money evolution
Technologists at digital money transfer company WorldRemit, have predicted that the global south region is on the cusp of mobile money evolution.
The call comes as technologists shared insights into factors that will affect the global mobile money sector in 2020.
According to WorldRemit, device usage in the developing world will continue to grow, driving access to finance for millions.
The company stated that opportunities in the developing world are based on young populations, growing mobile phone usage and poor existing domestic banking services.
Of the 710 million people expected to subscribe to mobile services for the first time over the next seven years, half will come from Asia Pacific and half from Sub-Saharan Africa, the fintech pioneer stated.
In addition, WorldRemit added that around a third of Brazilians don’t have bank accounts, because the services are too expensive, branches are too far away, or they don’t trust the banking and financial institutions.
Tamer El-Emary, chief commercial officer at WorldRemit, said: “Across our network we see trends that all point to the growing importance of the global South in the mobile money market. Increased device penetration has driven huge change already, but with much more still to come. At WorldRemit we look forward to embracing further shifts in what we believe will be the year of the Southern hemisphere.”
El-Emary said domestic players in Southern hemisphere nations will strengthen further, expanding the ranks of fintech leaders beyond the usual suspects.
He said more people will discover ways to use devices to manage their financial affairs and will leapfrog straight from unbanked to taking part in the digital economy, without ever having a bricks and mortar bank account.
“In 2019 we continued to see the emergence of major fintech players beyond the traditional developed world,” he said.
WorldRemit noted that whether it’s Tencent’s WeBank, the Chinese private direct bank with a $21.5bn deposit base at the end of 2018, Brazilian digital bank Nubank, which reached 15m customers in October 2019, or Nigerian digital payments company Interswitch, which became Africa’s second unicorn in November 2019, fintech is spreading throughout Southern hemisphere nations.
