ContentsContentsEXECUTIVE SUMMARY4MOBILE MONEY IN 20197REGIONAL GROWTH IN 20198BEYOND ONE BILLION MOBILE MONEY ACCOUNTSA STEP TOWARDS A DIGITAL FUTURE FOR ALL10COMMERCIAL SUSTAINABILITY AND THE SHIFT TO A 20 PAYMENTS AS A PLATFORM MODELREGULZVTORY AND POLICY TRENDS38THE FOUNDATION FOR IMPACTFUL SERVICES44CONCLUSION55APPENDIX57In 2019, the number of registered mobile money accounts reached 1.04 billion. Sub-Saharan Africa is the enduring epicentre of mobile money, adding over 50 million registered accounts in 2019. This was driven by strong growth in Western Africa (21 million new accounts) and Central Africa (six million newaccounts), as well as steady growth in Eastern Africa (22 million new accounts), The GSMA forecasts that account adoption across Sub-Saharan Africa will remain strong and that the region will surpass the half billion mark by the end of 2020.Figure 2.Distribution of registered mobile money accounts in Sub-Saharan Africa (December 2019)53%35%2%10% Eastern Africa Western Africa Central Africa Southern AfricaSub-Saharan Africa was not the only region to register strong growth in 2019. As in 2018, mobile money adoption in Asia made a significant contribution to global growth. East Asia and Pacific alone added 30 million accounts in 2019, driven primarily by growth in Southeast Asia where new entrants and innovation continue to push boundaries. Overall growth in Asia was hampered by the Indian market where several players closed operations due to an increasingly burdensome regulatory and operating environment. Aditya Birla Payments Bank decided to wind up its operations in March 2019,17 months after launch. Aditya Birla Payments Bank was the latest iteration of Ideas and Vodafones M-Pesa service. Despite this, South Asia added 14.1 million accounts in 2019.Digital payments in India are booming and have become a battleground for tech giants like Google Pay, Paytm, PhonePe and, most recently, Amazon Pay. While Facebooks WhatsApp Pay has also tried to enter the space, at the time of writing it has fallen short due to data localisation restrictions. With the backing of US and Chinese investors, the market has become exceptionally competitive and digital payments are expected to reach $1 trillion in value by 2023. Including non-mobile digital payments; Economic Times (15 February 2018). Diqitdl payments in India to reach $1 trillion be 2023: Credit Suisse. Fintech players are vying to survive in a market that is bound to consolidate and concentrate as it matures.Despite a massive account opening effort led by the government since 2014 (through Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, known as PMJDY), India still has the second largest unbanked population in the world (191 million).World Bank Group (2018). The Global Findex Database 2017. Also, a considerable proportion of account owners (48 per cent, 326 million) are inactive.People over the age of 15 who have a dormant financial institution account, with no withdrawals in the last year. World Bank Group (2018). The Global FivdexDatabase 2017. However, these figures are based on the latest Findex report (2017) and might not reflect recent changes in the market including the launch of new payments banks and new entrants like the tech giants mentioned earlier.7b reach the countrys poorest customers, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued guidelines for payments banks in November 2014. The most prominent payments banks in India are currently Paytm, Airtel, and Fino. Despite challenges with the payments bank model (read more about this in the Regulatory and policy trends section), Paytm managed to reach profitability and breakeven in 2019. Paytm (2019). Weve Turned Profitable on Our Second Anniversary, bloq.Indias diversity and sizeable banked and underbanked population (518 million) provide an opportunity for a variety of models and players to thrive. As the market matures, it will be interesting to see how the payments landscape evolves and the innovative models that will be successful in reaching the underserved.13Agents remain the backbone of the mobile money industryMobile Money AgentsBanksATMsEase of access to mobile money is still key to account adoption and deepening financial inclusion, and mobile money agents provide a convenient and trusted way to convert cash to digital value and vice versa. They are also the face of mobile money services around the world, performing crucial tasks like on-boarding, supporting and educating millions of customers. In 2019, $176 billion (total value of cash-in transactions) was digitised by mobile money agents globally. This is more than the total value of formal international remittances flows to Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean combined in the same year World Bank Group (2018). Global Findex Database 2017. evidence that agents ar