Acccording to a new report by Juniper Research, the number of mobile money transfers are expected to increase by nearly 150% in 2015 to more than 13bn. Service providers are expected to generate $2bn from the services this year, rising to $4bn by 2018. The market research firm also notes that network operators are well positioned to deliver key data that can help across various risk assessment applications such as credit scoring including data that relates to customer top-up histories, social media usage and location data.
Juniper Research said that several social media firms are already seeing a dramatic rise in service usage, among which is US social payment service Venmo that is experiencing traffic worth nearly $1 billion per quarter. The market research firm added that leading social media companies are introducing their own services, including Snapchat and Facebook. Meanwhile, the research found that in China, both WeChat and Alipay saw astonishing spikes in P2P (Person to Person) traffic during February 2015.
Dr Windsor Holden, Research Author
The beauty of mobile-based microinsurance is that, for the first time, the unbanked can be afforded protection against natural disasters. Without it, a farmer suffering crop failure could lose his livelihood.
