Background: The purpose of this study was to review existing research on mobile banking diffusion and investigate the adoption of mobile banking in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).

Objectives: Based on the failure of the M-Pesa in South Africa, this article also attempted to determine why mobile money service systems are difficult to apply transnationally.

Method: This was a literature survey, analysing mobile money literature during the period 2006–2016. Because of the current explosiveness of mobile money in SSA, the focus of this literature survey was limited geographically to South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya.

Results: The results of the literature survey and the real-world examples mainly show that a transnational application of mobile money service systems is difficult to implement.

Conclusion: This research elucidates the demand and need for mobile money service systems in SSA while underlining the explosiveness promoted mainly by rapid technological progress.