Uganda Mobile Money transactions hit Shs29.4 trillion

January 7, 2016 in Business, Finance, Markets, Policy by Editor

Mobile Payments for various transactions in Uganda hit the Shs29.4 trillion mark in the twelve months to September 2015, reflecting the continuing popularity of the service introduced into the market just over six years ago.
The number of mobile money accounts also grew nearly two million from 17.9 million to 19.8 million over the same period while accounts in the traditional banking sector remained flat at 5 million, according to statistics from the Bank of Uganda’s financial stability department.
“The mobile money industry has witnessed phenomenal growth over the last six years and has proved to be one of the most popular money transmission mechanisms in the country,” the BoU Director for Financial Stability, Dr Charles Abuka tolds 256BN today. “It has had a profound impact bringing millions of people through mobile phones to the financial system.”
Abuka says part of the growth is attributable to various initiatives by the different Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) to expand the range of services available to mobile money customers.
The fastest growth of the sector was recorded between December 2013 and December 2014 when number of registered mobile money subscribers increased by 32.4 percent. The sector added 4.6 million in absolute numbers growing from 14.2 million to 18.8 million subscribers at the end of December 2014 while the total value of transactions for the year grew 28.3 percent from was Ushs18.7 trillion to 24 trillion.
The number of transactions increased by 24.2 percent from 399.5 million transactions in 2013 to 496.2 million transactions in 2014.
The number of registered customers grew more than 1000 percent during the fiver year period to December 2014 rising from 1.7 million in December 2010 to 17.1 million or 1016.6 per cent from 1.7 million in December 2010 to 18.8 million in December 2014.
Similarly, the number of transactions increased from 28.8 million in December 2010 to 496.2 million in December 2014, while the value of transactions rose from Shs.962.7 billion in December 2010 to Shs.24 trillion in December 2014.
“As the mobile money payment continues to grow it is envisaged that this service will become an integral part of the national payment system,” Abuka says adding: “The Bank of Uganda Act is being amended to grant the Central Bank powers to regulate and supervise the payment systems. In addition, a National Payment Systems law is being developed. Once this legislation is enacted, payment service providers will be directly licensed by the Central Bank as payment operators.