Mobile money users overtake traditional bank accounts

Transactions carried out through mobile financial services (MFS) totalled UGX11.7 trillion (USD4.374 billion) in 2012, up from UGX3.75 trillion in 2011, the Daily Monitor quotes the deputy governor of the Bank of Uganda as saying. The number of wireless subscribers using the services increased to an estimated 8.9 million from 2.8 million, tapping into Uganda’s large unbanked population and surpassing the number of traditional bank accounts, of which there are around 3.6 million. Despite concerns regarding MFS-related fraud, South African-backed cellco MTN Uganda claimed to have 3.5 million active mobile money users at end-2012 which accounted for 20 million transactions over the course of the year.