The Covid-19pandemic meant organizations had to be shut down, people had to socially distance themselves and everyone was stuck in their homes. Naturally, this led to a global economic downturn and the financial situation was highly impacted. But financial transactions can’t just be shut down in this digitized world. After all, digital financial services have been embraced by individuals and organizations alike.
As the Financial Access Survey (FAS) of IMF defines, mobile money is a pay-as-you-go digital medium of exchange and store of value facilitated by a network of mobile money agents. (Mobile Money in the COVID-19 Pandemic) Mobile money services do not explicitly require a presence of a bank account as in the case of mobile banking. The only primary requirement is a mobile phone with access to these facilities. This concept has been rapidly adopted by many low and middle-income countries. According to a report by WorldPay, the coverage of mobile payments was 22% of the global point-of-sale payments which could raise to 29.6% by 2023. The contactless process of mobile payments has contributed to the presence of financial transactions without sabotaging the users’ physical and mental safety.
Some of the characteristics of mobile money have made their presence invaluable to the global financial community.
With the pandemic taking place and countries realizing the importance of mobile payments in this situation, many of them have taken various measures to facilitate the growth of these platforms. Where some countries have been taking fee cuts on carrying out financial transactions, some have been increasing the limits of fund transfer and payments and giving greater flexibility in KYC onboarding.
Like everything, mobile money is not free from its limitations. With a threat to profitability, the platforms might charge from other points. There is also the question of customer protection and privacy in this digital age. There are risks associated with concentration and operation too. Sometimes, there might be times when there is an arbitrage in a regulatory environment.
But with the growth of mobile money, there also arise the concepts of availing financial services through mobile apps like getting an instant loan or salary advances. For all that Fibe comes to your rescue-the one-stop solution for all your instant cash needs.
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