Mobile remittance market growth : Identifying and using key drivers for country evaluation

Sammanfattning: Migrants sending money to their countries of origin provide capital that has the potential to improve the long-run economic performance of many countries in the world. But the cost for sending remittances is unreasonably high, and there are a number of barriers hindering low- cost solutions, such as mobile money transfer services, to increase in scale. The transformation of the remittance industry is therefore impeded. This research aimed to address this problem and find the factors that are driving the market for mobile remittances forward. By identifying and understanding the key drivers, this research makes it possible for companies providing mobile remittance services to find countries that can foster a sustainable industry growth and transform the industry efficiently. As a complement to a majority of quantitative studies performed within the field of mobile money, this research used both qualitative and quantitative methods. To apply a holistic approach, the PESTLE framework was used as a structure for several parts of the research process. Key drivers were identified from an extensive literature review and interviews with industry experts. By answering a questionnaire, professionals, industry experts and researchers, rated the key drivers’ importance for the growth of the mobile remittance market. The most critical key drivers were identified and used to develop a framework for evaluating how suitable a country’s market environment is for mobile remittances. One main finding was that the perceptions on what, and who, is driving the market for mobile remittances forward are varying and highly dependent on whom is asked, but that there are some factors that people agree are of particular importance. First, the mobile remittance service should be easy to use, secure, and of lower cost than other services. It is important to have a supportive infrastructure providing efficient liquidity management for agents, high agent density and network reliability. To increase the customer awareness and adoption, agents should be educated in how to use and sell the service, and how to educate the customer. Collaborative partnerships could leverage the distribution network and increase the market interoperability, and lastly, it was shown that mobile remittances can be supported by a regulatory environment that enables mobile money and branchless banking. This research showed that to the degree to which a country’s market environment fulfils these criteria can give an indication on how suitable it is for mobile remittances. A wide range of aspects and stakeholders need to be considered and supported to foster a sustainable industry growth, and this research provides guidelines that are relevant for both companies and researchers.