Apple and Google Will Bring Social Payments to the Masses

A new study from Juniper Research has found that the global number of registered mobile domestic money transfer users is expected to reach 2.5 billion this year, up from an estimated 1.7 billion in 2016.

This will be driven by social media apps such as WeChat, Facebook and others already witnessing a dramatic rise in service usage, alongside new services including Apple Pay Cash, and Zelle Pay; with leading mobile money services driving growth in emerging markets.

The new research forecasts that by 2018 the global share of domestic money transfer services, by mobile transaction values will be led by domestic P2P (65%). Cash-In follows at 13%, next to Cash-Out (11%), bulk disbursement (G2P) at 8% and domestic Airtime Top-Up at 2%.

Juniper believes that 2018 will be the year for social payments with key rollouts from Apple, Google and Facebook expected to drive the much delayed social payments market, as a subsector of the wider mobile P2P market.

Juniper predicts that the uptake for Apple Pay Cash will be slow in the short term due to a strong banking network in its launch markets. However, the total number of annual transactions for the service will approach 1 billion by 2020.

Meanwhile, users of mobile money services such as M-PESA, Orange Money, and MTN Money will exceed 1 billion registered users by 2020, driving financial inclusion for the unbanked in emerging markets. Operators are increasingly facilitating service interoperability, both at national and international level, thereby opening up the market for faster growth.