COVID-19 accelerates use of mobile financial services in Sub-Saharan Africa: Ericsson report
According to the Ericsson report, the use of mobile financial services has increased more than three-fold in the last six years, with 70 percent of consumers saying that faster transactions would encourage them to use mobile money services more often in the near future.
The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the use of mobile financial services in Sub-Saharan Africa, with nearly half of all consumers in the region currently using the services, says a new Ericsson consumer and market insight report analyses how and why this technology has increased in popularity.
The report titled "Mobile Financial Services on the Rise" assesses the growth of mobile financial services in light of technology and infrastructure gains across Sub-Saharan Africa, as well as the COVID-19 impact on financial behaviour. The Ericsson Consumer & IndustryLab surveyed more than 3,000 consumers across six Sub-Saharan African countries including Senegal, Angola, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Ghana, and Ethiopia in early 2021.
According to the Ericsson report, the use of mobile financial services has increased more than three-fold in the last six years, with 70 percent of consumers saying that faster transactions would encourage them to use mobile money services more often in the near future.
The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly increased the usage of the technology, with 54 percent of consumers saying that they use mobile financial services transactions more now and about 70 percent are more positive towards using them as a preferred contactless alternate to cash.
This new research underlines the significant empowering role that mobile financial services play in Sub-Saharan Africa, both in combating the impact of the pandemic and in fuelling economic development across Africa through the transformational potential of expanded and affordable access to financial solutions.
Here are the other key highlights from the report:
- As many as 8-in-10 non-users say they are very interested to start using mobile financial services
- 51 percent of users believe that higher security would encourage them to use mobile money services more in the future
- Up to 90 percent of Sub-Saharan African mobile financial services users now using the technology through Communications Service Providers (CSPs)
Ericsson's mobile wallet solution - Ericsson Wallet Platform - is used by numerous CSPs worldwide to serve nearly 300 million registered users. It provides the technology, tools and regulatory supports to the CSPs providing mobile financial services to their customers.
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