According to a latest research paper, 50 percent of the world’s population will use a mobile wallet. By the end of 2020, nearly 2.8 mobile wallets were in use across the globe. The Covid-19 pandemic also plays a pivotal role in accelerating the usage of mobile wallets in regions such as Southeast Asia, Latin America as well as Africa.

According to Boku’s Mobile Wallets Report, Southeast Asia is the fastest-growing region in the world, when it comes to mobile wallet usage.

Adam Lee, Chief Product Officer at Boku said, “While mobile wallets are being used on a global basis, we see two distinct types being used today. One is card-based mobile wallets, like Apple Pay and Google Pay, which provide an easier way to pay with cards people already have. The other is stored value mobile wallets, like AliPay and GrabPay, that enable consumers to transact with digital cash and are popular in emerging markets with fast growing eCommerce sectors.

“The markets that are set to grow the fastest are those with the lowest levels of card penetration, stored value wallets are thriving. In North America and Western Europe, which are dominated by card-based mobile wallets, we are seeing the slowest growth in mobile wallet adoption, as the technology provides merely incremental benefit.”

“We are seeing clear bifurcation in the market between card-based mobile wallets in developed markets and stored value mobile wallets that are ubiquitous in Asia and rapidly growing in all emerging markets,” he added.

Mobile wallet to become a $3.5 trillion industry by 2023

While debit or credit cards remain a dominant form of payment in developed economies, mobile wallets or digital payments are on the rise in emerging markets such as Southeast Asia or Sub-Saharan Africa. A new report from finance and investment company Finaria revealed that the mobile wallet industry will grow to $2.4 trillion this year, a 24 percent increase year-on-year.

The report further mentioned that mobile wallets will be a $3.5 trillion industry by 2023. It is, without doubt, we can say China is the global leader when it comes to digital payment. Chinese companies such as Alipay and WeChat revolutionised digital payments. However, surprisingly, markets such as the US are picking up the trend.

Covid-19 accelerating mobile wallet usage

The Covid-19 pandemic has definitely fast-tracked digital adoption. Due the contagious nature of the Covid-19 virus, people are being asked to stay indoors and they are going online to satisfy their wants. As a result of the pandemic, we are witnessing a paradigm shift in payments driven by mobile wallets.
In the last year, e-commerce has boomed substantially across the globe which is facilitating digital payments. Many stores are now offering digital wallet payments to curb the spread of the virus. Tech giants such as Google and Apple or even Facebook have also entered this space recently.

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Airtel Payments Bank and Airtel Africa are subsidiaries of Bharti Airtel. The new real-time payment service will have millions of Airtel Payments Bank accounts in India and mobile wallet offering across 14 African countries. 

Western Union and Bharti Airtel’s combined service is expected to launch this year. 

Western Union’s partnership with Airtel Payments Bank in India will ensure seamless money transfers in the country. Likewise, its partnership with Airtel Africa will allow more than 15 million Airtel Money mobile wallet users in Nigeria, Uganda, Gabon, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Madagascar, Kenya, Congo, Niger, Tchad, Rwanda and Seychelles, to accept overseas money transfers without any hassle.

Raghunath Mandava, CEO of Airtel Africa, said in a statement, “This partnership will give our customers the convenience and security of directly receiving and sending remittances from their Airtel mobile money wallets. They will now be automatically credited and debited via their Airtel mobile money wallets on their phone and can immediately access the funds to pay bills or merchants and transfer funds to family and friends or convert to cash from the widespread Airtel Money agents, kiosks and branches.”

Airtel Payments Bank has established more than 500,000 banking points across India. Airtel Africa is a leading telecom and mobile money services provider across 14 African countries. 

Currently, Western Union has its presence in more than 100 countries, with 40 banking and payment partnerships. 

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