money & economicsOur World in Data
Mobile money lets people hold and send cash through a phone, no bank branch needed
Mobile money lets you store value and make payments using only a phone, without a traditional bank account. You hand cash to a local agent, who credits your phone balance, and you can then send money to someone else by text message or app. Kenya's M-Pesa, launched in 2007, popularised the model. Accounts are now growing fastest in parts of Africa and Asia, where branches are few but phones are common, and hundreds of millions of people use these services.
Users deposit cash with registered agents, who record the amount as electronic value on the user's account. Transfers happen by SMS or app, and the system settles balances without any bank account being required. Because agents are everywhere, the network reaches places banks never built branches.
For people far from a bank, mobile money offers a safe way to save, receive wages and pay bills, which can make a real difference to household finances. It shows how a cheap phone can leapfrog the need for expensive banking infrastructure.
Mobile money spread from Kenya to many countries, and it is now one of the main routes into formal finance for people without bank accounts, a pattern that has repeated across regions.
