New State of the Industry Report on Mobile Insurance, Mobile Savings & Mobile Credit

This blog was co-written by Janet Shulist and Lara Gilman 

Earlier this year, we published the 2015 State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money. Today, GSMA is publishing part two of the report, focused on mobile insurance, mobile savings, and mobile credit.

The 2015 Mobile Insurance, Savings and Credit Report highlights how these products and services continue to positively impact the lives of the underserved as well as contributing to the development of the wider the mobile financial services ecosystem. This report provides insights into the availability and adoption of these mobile financial services.

This year, we’ve seen a number of key findings and trends for mobile insurance, savings, and credit:

Mobile insurance: The mobile insurance industry has continued to expand, with 120 live services now available in 33 emerging markets. Mobile operators continue to play an important role in offering mobile insurance as the majority of services are led by mobile operators.  This year, however, insurance is evolving and data indicates a potential shift towards more premium commercial models for new mobile insurance services.  Evidence also indicates that the diversity of products beyond life insurance is increasing – in 2015, two-thirds of new services offer non-life products.

Mobile savings accounts and cash storage: When it comes to storing cash using a mobile money account, people are saving more: the number of accounts with a positive balance doubled between September 2014 and June 2015. Further the number of dedicated mobile savings accounts also increased by 20%.  Lastly, in 2015, there was continued innovation in mobile savings, particularly with products focusing on group savings accounts, locked earmarked savings accounts, and more complex investment options.

Mobile credit: The mobile channel remains critical to managing loans in 2015: nine out of ten customers can apply for loans directly from their devices, and all survey respondents reported that customers can receive their loan disbursements and repay loans via mobile money. The global appetite for agent lending as a means to manage liquidity, although still small, is apparent: at least one survey respondents from every region offers agent credit, and no one region represented the majority of responses.  Looking ahead, the rise of fintech investment will likely impact mobile credit.  In 2015, fintech companies disrupted both lending and credit scoring with more than 40 companies shaping the sector’s landscape.

Download the report

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