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"Paying with a mobile phone is a cutting-edge innovation transforming the global payments landscape. Some developing countries have surprisingly overtaken advanced economies in adopting the mobile payment innovation. We construct a dynamic model with sequential payment innovations to explain this puzzle, which uncovers how advanced economies' past success in adopting card-payment technology holds them back in the mobile-payment race. Our calibrated model matches the cross-country adoption patterns of card and mobile payments and also explains why advanced and developing countries favor different mobile payment solutions. Based on the model, we conduct quantitative exercises for welfare and policy analyses."

Mobile money transactions hit a record high of $1.26 trillion in 2022 (versus $1 trillion in 2021), according to a new GSMA report. The number of registered mobile money accounts increased by 13% year-on-year to 1.6 billion, and the volume of mobile money-enabled international remittances increased by 28% to $22 billion. However, there is a wide gender gap, with mobile phone ownership remaining the main cause of this gap, although cultural norms also prevent women from adopting mobile money. "Women in low- and middle-income countries are 28% less likely than men to own a mobile money account," the report found. https://www.gsma.com/newsroom/press-release/mobile-money-exceeds-industry-expectations-reaching-a-transaction-value-of-1-26-usd-trillion-in-2022/

The IMF published a Fintech Note on key findings from the Sub-Saharan Africa CBDC and Digital Payments Survey, shedding light on the motivations, benefits, and challenges of CBDC adoption, as well as the developments of digital private money and crypto assets in sub-Saharan Africa. More than 75% of the 33 central banks surveyed are engaged in-or are planning to engage in-CBDC research or pilot activities. Of these, roughly two-thirds are in the research phase, and slightly over one-third are planning to conclude their CBDC pilot programs within the next two years. More than a quarter are actively preparing to launch a CBDC by 2028, although legal challenges pose major hurdles to getting to that point. Financial inclusion, efficiency in domestic payments and facilitating remittances are the most dominant motivations for CBDC adoption. Fast payment systems and e-Money (such as mobile money) are considered as quick wins in sub-Saharan Africa, and about two-thirds of countries are in the process of implementing or considering fast payment systems that are mostly accessible through mobile phones or the internet.