Guidelines on International Remittances Through Mobile Money
Mobile money providers are committed to facilitating international remittances in a safe and responsible manner. In part, they achieve this by leveraging robust controls already in place to facilitate risk management for large domestic transfer services. To understand mobile money providers’ best practice in this area, the GSMA set up a working group comprising leading operator groups offering mobile money services and international remittance hubs. The GSMA also sought guidance from a number of regulators and international experts.
The resulting Guidelines on International Remittances through Mobile Money illustrate how the mobile money industry and its partners are collaborating to ensure that international transfers conducted through mobile money are facilitated in a safe and secure manner, consistent with global standards and local monetary policy and regulations.
This document focuses on technical and operational considerations and provides an overview of the industry’s best practices in the following areas: (i) reconciliation and settlement; (ii) data security and APIs; (iii) due diligence; (iv) customer identity management systems; and (v) consumer protection. Beyond the technical aspects of interconnecting remittance services across different markets, adopting the right governance and business models for all parties involved are key factors in choosing the appropriate model for a particular context. This document also includes examples of how the Guidelines can be implemented, acknowledging that different market and policy contexts have an impact on operational models.
