Launching the industry guidelines on international remittances through mobile money

Mobile money has established itself as a critical tool for facilitating international remittances, while reducing remittance costs and maximising the impact of remittances on development. Because of its reach and growing use among underserved people, mobile money is uniquely positioned to transform formal remittance markets and to advance financial inclusion. Mobile money providers and their partners leverage technology to offer a more efficient business model and a better user experience to their customers, and they are committed to doing so in a safe and responsible manner.

To understand mobile money providers’ best practices, GSMA Mobile Money set up a working group comprising leading operator groups offering mobile money and international remittance hubs. We also sought guidance from a number of regulators and international experts.

The resulting document focuses on technical and operational considerations and provides an overview of the industry’s best practices in the following areas: i) reconciliation and settlement; ii) data security and APIs; iii) due diligence; iv) Customer Identity Management Systems; and v) consumer protection. You can read the full Guidelines on International Remittances through Mobile Money here.

The Guidelines were presented to key industry stakeholders and regulators at AFI’s 2017 Global Policy Forum in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, during the Public-Private Dialogue. Public-private dialogue is crucial to building mutual understanding and ultimately lifting barriers to entry and scale in the remittance business for mobile money providers.
We hope that these Guidelines help to facilitate continued dialogue on remittance services, to the benefit of underserved communities around the world. As we continue to support the industry to scale international remittances through mobile money, we welcome all interested parties to join forces and work with us to offer better solutions to migrants and their families.

It is important to note that, in the Guidelines, we recognise the dynamic and fast-evolving nature of this topic. As such, we welcome your feedback and questions as these will help us refine the guidelines as the industry evolves. Please get in touch at [email protected] to provide feedback and to learn more about our work in this area.

The ‘Guidelines on International Remittances through Mobile Money’ are the third piece of GSMA research on the use of mobile money for international remittances, following previous publications on driving a price revolution and early lessons on licensing mobile money remittance providers.

Join the Conversation (2 comments)

    • Hi Olubunmi,

      Thank you for your message.

      One purpose of this document is to raise awareness from stakeholders, including governments, on the best practices used by the mobile money industry when offering international remittance services. As such, we hope that this document can serve as the basis for a dialogue between governments and the private sector on how to enable the industry to offer better international remittance services to their customers every day. This is a working paper and as such, we encourage regulators and others to share their feedback and questions on the Guidelines.

      Best regards,
      GSMA Mobile Money

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