Mobile money transactions have doubled since 2021, with more than $2-trillion in transactions recorded in 2025, the GSMA’s 'State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money 2026' has found.

Prepared by the GSMA Mobile Money programme, the report highlights the exponential growth in transaction values, having taken 20 years to pass $1-trillion in yearly transaction values, but just four years to reach $2-trillion.

As the market reaches new heights and greater maturity, mobile money has become a mainstream financial service for underserved populations globally since its inception 25 years ago.

The report also found that mobile money reached 2.3-billion registered accounts in 2025, equating to annual growth of 268-million, empowering those without access to traditional banking services.

Adoption and regular use are surging and value is scaling even faster than volume.

“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,” said GSMA director-general Vivek Badrinath.

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.”

According to the report, regular mobile money use has increased worldwide over the past year, with active 30-day accounts rising by 15% to 593-million.

While most new registered and active accounts emerged from sub-Saharan Africa, nearly every region where mobile money is offered experienced a rise.

This has led to monthly use 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 are in effect, negatively impacting financial inclusion,” the report added.

Through more frequent use, mobile money users can improve their financial health, including the capacity to manage day-to-day financial needs, withstand shocks and invest in the future, and benefit 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.”

Meanwhile, regulation continues to play a key role in expanding the reach of mobile money, the GSMA reported.

Over 60% of mobile money providers believe that interoperability, know-your-customer and consumer protection regulations have supported their operations.

More must be done to support the industry, as significant regulatory issues remain, particularly cross-border data transfer regulations, which 24% of mobile money providers reported 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,” the report noted.

In addition to accelerating financial inclusion and supporting improved financial health, mobile money use 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,” it concluded.