THE value of e-money wallet transactions in Fiji is projected to hit nearly $3billion by the end of this year, says Reserve Bank of Fiji Governor Ariff Ali.
Speaking at a panel discussion during the opening of the new Visa Regional office in Suva, he said Fiji recorded 36 million mobile wallet transactions worth $2b last year.
“This year, based on the numbers so far to date, we have almost 41 million (transactions) so far in the first nine months, so most probably reach 50 million with total value of payments passing to the mobile wallets as P2P close to three billion dollars,” Mr Ali said.
He said banks processed 3.5 million transfers to mobile wallets last year, valued at about $300m.
“This year, we’ll have almost seven (7) million transactions, almost double that.”
Interoperability, introduced late last year, had also driven growth.
“Previously, you couldn’t transfer funds from the wallet to the bank account. Last year was minimum because it was only three months but so far this year, we have seen a significant surge,” he said.
“We think that the total amount of funds that would be transferred from the wallet into the bank accounts… would be close to three (3) million transactions worth a couple of million dollars.”
QR code payments also grew.
“It was about five million dollars’ worth of transactions happening through the QR code.”
Mr Ali said the RBF supported mobile wallets as they improved productivity. “It brings about cost savings; it brings about efficiency… something important that will bring about productivity and efficiency in the market.”
