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© 2021 International Monetary Fund
WP/21/177
IMF Working Paper
Statistics Department
Is Mobile Money Part of Money? Understanding the Trends and Measurement
Prepared by Kazuko Shirono, Bidisha Das, Yingjie Fan, Esha Chhabra and Hector Carcel-Villanova1
Authorized for distribution by Marco Espinosa-Vega
July 2021
IMF Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to encourage debate. The views expressed in IMF Working Papers are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF, its Executive Board, or IMF management.
Abstract
The rapid uptake of mobile money in recent years has generated new data needs and growing interest in understanding its impact on broad money. This paper reviews mobile money trends using mobile money data from the Financial Access Survey (FAS) and examines the statistical treatment of mobile money under the IMF’s Monetary and Financial Statistics (MFS) framework. MFS guidance is straightforward in most cases, as many jurisdictions have adopted regulations which ensure that mobile money is captured in the banking system and thus in the calculation of broad money. However, in cases where mobile network operators (MNOs) act as niche financial intermediaries outside the banking regulatory perimeter and are allowed to invest their customer funds in sovereign securities and other permitted assets, mobile money liabilities may remain outside the banking system as well as monetary statistics. In that case, information on mobile money liabilities need to be collected directly from MNOs to account for mobile money as part of broad money.
JEL Classification Numbers: E42, E50, G28, M48, K20.
Keywords: mobile money, financial inclusion, fintech, economic development, monetary and financial statistics, Financial Access Survey.
Author’s E-Mail Address: KShirono@imf.org, BDas2@imf.org, YFan2@imf.org, EChhabra@imf.org, HCarcelVillanova@imf.org
Contents
ABSTRACT
I. INTRODUCTION
II. MOBILE MONEY: STYLIZED FACTS
A. What is Mobile Money?
B. Trends and Developments
III. MOBILE MONEY ECOSYSTEM
A. Mobile Money Value Chain and Business Models
B. Regulations to Safeguard Mobile Money Customer Funds
IV. MOBILE MONEY AND MONETARY AGGREGATES
A. Treatment of Mobile Money in Monetary Statistics
B. Compilation of Mobile Money Data for Monetary Statistics
C. The impact of mobile money on broad money composition
V. CONCLUSION
BOXES
1. Mobile Money Usage Patterns: Evidence from M-Pesa Transactional Data
2. Narrow Bank Model—Payment Banks of India
3. Institutional Units and Sectors in Macroeconomic Statistics
4. Standardized Report Forms (SRFs): 1SR, 2SR, 4SR, and 5SR
5. Additional Treatments of Mobile Money in MFS Reporting
FIGURES
1. Mobile Money Agents are Dominant Access Points in Many Developing Economies
2. Mobile Money Accounts are Widely Adopted in Many Economies
3. Mobile Money Usage Has Grown Over Time
4. Mobile Money Balances are Growing Over Time
5. Mobile Network Operator-Led Mobile Money Models Dominate in Most Regions
6. Treatment of Mobile Money in MFS
7. Mobile Money Account Balances and Bank Deposits
TABLES
1. Mobile Money Data Collected in the FAS
2. Mobile Money Value Chain: Key Components
3. Select Examples Allowing MNOs to Invest in Other Liquid Assets
REFERENCES
References
ANNEXES
I. Data Sources for Mobile Money
II. Analysis of Transaction-level M-Pesa Data
III. SRFs and Compilation of Monetary Aggregates under the MFSMCG
IV. IMF’s Monetary and Financial Statistics Database
We would like to thank Joseph Crowley, Elizabeth Holmquist, Mahmut Kutlukaya, Lusine Lusinyan, Justin Matz, Maria Soledad Martinez-Peria, Rita Mesias, Jose Carlos Moreno-Ramirez, Jan Nolte and Ryan Rizaldy for their insightful comments. We thank Tonia Takyi and Brian Bowling for their administrative support. This paper also received valuable comments from the Bank of Botswana, the Central Bank of Nigeria, the South African Reserve Bank, and the Bank of Zambia. The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF, its Executive Board, or IMF management.