01 October 2008

International Money Transfer Via Mobiles Set For Boom

More than 100 million mobile users will make international money transfers by 2013, according to a report.

Mobile international transfers are forecast to grow in frequency as users become more accustomed to the process, exceeding one per month by 2013 on average globally, according to a report by market research company Juniper Research. These cross border mobile money transfers are currently in their infancy, but are expected to gain traction over the next two to three years, especially on migration routes such as Philippines/Middle East and Mexico/USA.

The report spotlights the fact that mobile money transfer will transform the ability of the ‘underbanked’ population and migrant workers to make remittances, using their mobile phones as mobile wallets.

"The vast increase in migrant workers globally has fuelled the number of remittances being sent home to friends and families regularly. The mobile phone will become a vital enabler in developing countries because often many more people have phones than have bank accounts. The GSM Association Mobile Money Transfer global initiative emphasises the importance that is attached to this across the mobile industry as a whole,” commented Juniper Research report author Howard Wilcox.

The top three regions  - W. Europe, N. America and Africa & Middle East - will represent over 75% of the global international mobile money transfer gross transaction value by 2013, the report concluded.