More than $2 trillion flowed through mobile money wallets globally in 2025, found the State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money 2026, prepared by the GSMA Mobile Money programme. This is an important threshold and exemplifies the exponential growth in transaction values the industry has experienced in recent years. It took 20 years to pass $1 trillion in annual transaction values, but just four years for this figure to double.
From its inception, only 25 years ago, mobile money has now become a mainstream financial service for underserved populations around the world, empowering those without access to traditional banking services and contributing to economic growth in countries where mobile money is present. The report also found that mobile money reached 2.3 billion registered accounts in 2025, growing by 268 million.
Vivek Badrinath, GSMA Director General, comments: “Mobile money has become one of the world’s most impactful financial services. What began as a simple way to move money has evolved into a global financial ecosystem, reshaping how hundreds of millions of people manage their financial lives. The market is reaching new heights and greater maturity. Adoption and regular use are surging, and value is scaling even faster than volume, with more than $2 trillion flowing through mobile money in 2025 – doubling from the first trillion in just four years.
“Looking ahead, the industry’s growing scale and sophistication will bring new opportunities, and new responsibilities. By prioritising interoperability and cross border harmonisation; engaging in digital public infrastructure; strengthening consumer protection and fraud controls; and accelerating women’s inclusion and financial health outcomes, we can ensure mobile money continues to provide safe, inclusive and sustainable digital financial services.”
Regular mobile money usage is growing, supporting financial health
Regular mobile money usage has increased worldwide over the past year, with active 30-day accounts rising by 15% to 593 million. Most new registered and active accounts came from Sub-Saharan Africa, although almost every region where mobile money is offered experienced a rise. This has led to monthly usage of mobile money accounts growing by half a percentage point to 25.7%, the highest it has been since 2021. However, this still leaves almost 75% of accounts inactive monthly, with fraud remaining widespread and transaction taxes often encouraging users to revert to cash in the countries where they’re in effect, negatively impacting financial inclusion.
Through more frequent usage, mobile money users can improve their financial health – the capacity to manage day-to-day financial needs, withstand shocks and invest in the future – by benefiting from the increasing provision of adjacent services like credit, savings and insurance. The report found that the number of mobile money providers offering insurance increased by one-third in 2025. Mobile-money enabled credit remains the most widely offered adjacent financial service, and this is nearly matched by those offering saving options.
Regulation is supporting mobile money in improving financial inclusion
Regulation is playing a key role in expanding the reach of mobile money, the GSMA reports. Over 60% of mobile money providers believe that interoperability, know-your-customer and consumer protection regulations have supported their operations. Although more must be done to support the industry, significant regulatory issues remain – particularly cross-border data transfer regulations, which 24% of mobile money providers report have hindered their operations.
With a supportive regulatory environment, the mobile money industry will be able to continue growing and, in turn, advance financial inclusion, especially among groups that have traditionally lacked access to banking services. This is vital as a wide gender gap persists in mobile money account ownership across seven out of 10 countries surveyed in the report. Aside from in Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria, women who own a mobile money account are still less likely than men to have used it within the past month.
Mobile money fosters innovation for good
In addition to accelerating financial inclusion and supporting improved financial health, mobile money usage is enabling wider social and humanitarian benefits by enabling rapid payouts during crises, particularly in remote regions. However, for these and other use cases to succeed, mobile money needs to be complemented by digital financial literacy initiatives to continue responsible growth across regions and demographics.
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