Even if mobile wallets are still in early development in most countries, according to the report, worldwide, 2.07 billion consumers are expected to use a mobile wallet to make a purchase in 2019 – this is up nearly 30% from the 1.6 billion consumers recorded at the end of 2017. China is currently the largest adopter of mobile payments, but other countries are starting to catch up.
India has also seen increases in mobile payment usage due to governmental demonetisation, and the African market has seen strong growth as well, due to factors such as low barriers to market entry.
The report goes on to highlight the potential mobile wallets represent to the globally underbanked population. Over 1.7 billion adults (21% of the world’s total population) do not have access to a traditional bank account. A billion of these adults do have access to a mobile phone though, and are potential customers for mobile wallets.
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