My Money, Your Name: Challenges and Workarounds in ID-Required Mobile Money in East Africa

Mobile money (MoMo) services have increased access to financial services in low- and middle- income countries (LMICs). However, requirements to register SIM cards with a government-issued identification have left around 18% of users, most without IDs, banking under a third-party’s name. Through interviews with 72 urban and rural residents in Kenya and Tanzania, this study provides the first in-depth assessment of how third-party SIM cards are acquired and the challenges and workarounds that arise when using them for MoMo. We document how third-party SIM users use various intermediaries—friends, family, agents, and strangers—to access services and the effects of ID and account misuse by both third-party SIM users and intermediaries. We further outline the personal and systemic challenges that lead to the lack of IDs for SIM registration and discuss how digitization, now underway in both Kenya and Tanzania, should be approached to effectively address these barriers.