International remittances via mobile handsets to hit $55b in 2016

ABOUT $55 billion in international remittances will be enabled via mobile devices in 2016, up from less than $12 billion in 2011, a new report from UK-based Juniper Research has revealed.The research noted that growth is currently being led by mobile remittances sent across established migration corridors such as the US-Mexico and intra-regional transfers across Africa and the Middle East, as migrant workers send money back home from foreign countries.It posited however, that substantial inter/intra-regional activities from and within Western Europe would see the region account for the largest remittance volume by the end of the forecast period.The report also highlights the opportunity presented in the medium term by the 'trickle-down' of smartphone features and functionality into mass market feature phones, such as touchscreen interfaces, apps and Internet access.The author of the report, Dr Windsor Holden said: 'In markets with low literacy levels, money transfer applications on the handset based around easily recognisable icons may gain a far wider usage than services based around text-based menus.'According to the report, service deployments are expected to gain impetus with the increased utilisation of multilateral hubs between Mobile Market Operators (MNOs) and third parties, which connect both sending and receiving channels on a single platform.This, in turn, reduces the time to deployment, as each MNO is required to connect to a hub only once to send/receive remittances and does not have to spend additional time on agreements.However, the report cautioned that the lack of regulatory engagement with service providers in many jurisdictions continues to inhibit service deployment and adoption of both domestic and international remittance services.The report also advised that service providers should introduce lower commission rates and flexible pricing structures to generate greater service uptake, adding that potential service users are being deterred in many markets by limited or poorly trained local agent networks.'Our research found that money transfers, bill payments and airtime top-ups constitute the typical top three mobile money services in an operator's portfolio,' the report added.Increasingly though merchant payments are being offered and operators can, via partnerships with supermarkets for example, enable people to pay for their shopping this way,' the report stated.
Click here to read full news..