NEW YORK – Billed as the future of banking, the value of financial transactions carried out through mobile phones has been pegged at $245 billion worldwide by 2014 in a new report by global consultancy firm Ernst & Young.
“Overall, mobile payment services are expected to reach $245 billion in value worldwide by 2014,” according to the report by Ernst and Young ( E&Y).
At the same time, the number of users carrying out transactions using mobile money is expected to total 340 million by 2014, equivalent to 5 per cent of existing mobile subscribers across the globe, the report said.
There were 81.3 million people worldwide that used their mobile devices to make payments in 2009 and the value of m-payments stood at $69 billion during the period, according to an estimate.
The mobile payments market has gained traction in recent years, owing to factors such as higher penetration of handsets in comparison to coverage of population with banking services and benign regulatory environments.
“The acceleration of mobile remittance services alongside new mobile payment scenarios highlights the range of opportunities for the mobile phone to redefine the movement of money by lowering costs, increasing convenience and reducing fraud,” the report said.
The increasing use of the mobile payment concept by consumers across the globe, especially in heavily populous countries in the Asia-Pacific region, may inflate the market for mobile payments in the coming years.
