Making Mobile Money Work For All

A Review of the Jordan Mobile Payments System

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Amidst crises affecting the world at an unprecedented scale, technology is facilitating the reach of the global economy to remote and hard-to-reach communities. From Somaliland to Mali, Bangladesh to Uganda, digital financial services are expanding and evolving to serve the needs of customers often excluded from traditional financial services.

Mercy Corps and the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth partnered to explore ways Jordan, with a predominantly cash-based economy, would benefit from widespread adoption of mobile payments, helping small businesses to accelerate economic activity and ultimately increasing employment.

This year-long study examined the developing mobile payment system in Jordan, called the Jordan Mobile Payment (JoMoPay) system. It focuses on understanding the financial behavior of small businesses and startups in Jordan and how the JoMoPay could improve small business growth. It also explores what improvements could be made to digital payments in Jordan in order to better serve small businesses and their customers.

The report found that mobile payments are needed in Jordan, and that a key catalyst to increasing the use of mobile payments is merchant adoption. However, the lack of incentives for merchants to use the system, a lack of awareness of this new technology among potential users, and technological and policy hurdles are critical barriers making adoption difficult.

The report includes specific recommendations for the payment service providers, domestic policy makers and for humanitarian agencies and donors to address these challenges.

Overall, the growth of JoMoPay has been strong, and with a concerted effort from the stakeholders and active input from a diverse set of users, improvements can be made to unlock the potential of this important technology.

Read previous research on JoMoPay ▸