Active Agent Capacity and Liquidity Discipline in Mobile Money

Operations: A Business Analytics Perspective

Heba Moselhy1,* Dina K. Hassan2

1 Business Administration Department, Delta Higher Institute for Management and Accounting Information Systems, Egypt

2 Faculty of Commerce, Kafr El Sheikh University, Egypt

Received: January 03, 2024 Revised: March 03, 2024 Accepted: June 24, 2024 ⋆ Corresponding author

ABSTRACT

Mobile money has evolved into a business-critical financial technology infrastructure, yet its operating strength

cannot be judged from customer scale alone. A platform may report rapid growth in registered accounts, transaction

value, or agent coverage while still facing service fragility when active agents do not expand at the same pace as

transaction demand. This study develops a business analytics model for evaluating active agent capacity, customer

activation, transaction intensity, and liquidity pressure as connected dimensions of mobile money operations. The

empirical analysis uses public aggregate indicators from mobile money industry reporting and demand-side financial

inclusion indicators from the Global Findex database. The model distinguishes between three managerial questions

that are often combined in practice: whether customers are becoming active users, whether agents are becoming

productive service points, and whether transaction value places increasing pressure on the active agent base. The

results show that transaction value and transaction volume grow more rapidly than customer scale, while registered

agent expansion exceeds active agent growth. Scenario analysis indicates that agent reactivation can reduce liquidity

pressure, whereas customer activation without corresponding service-capacity expansion increases operational

stress. The study contributes a practical measurement lens for FinTech managers, payment providers, investors, and

regulators seeking to scale mobile money while maintaining reliable last-mile service capacity.

Keywords: Financial technology Mobile money Agent liquidity Digital payments Business analytics

1. INTRODUCTION

Mobile money has become one of the most important operating

infrastructures in inclusive financial technology. It

supports peer-to-peer transfers, cash-in and cash-out, bill payment,

merchant acceptance, salary disbursement, remittances,

savings links, and digital credit interfaces. As the industry matures,

the strategic question changes from whether accounts

can be opened at scale to whether a provider can sustain reliable

service when more customers transact more frequently

and at higher values.

The agent network is central to this question. Agents convert

cash into electronic value, support account use, provide customer

assistance, and give mobile money a physical presence

in places where formal bank branches are limited. However,

the size of the registered agent base can be misleading. A

provider may have wide nominal coverage but weak service

capacity when a large share of agents are dormant, undercapitalized,

or unable to rebalance liquidity. In cash-dependent

markets, this distinction can directly affect customer trust and

transaction completion.

This study treats active agent capacity as a strategic constraint

in mobile money scaling. The approach differs from

adoption-focused FinTech analysis that emphasizes account