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Digital Financial Inclusion
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Digital Financial Inclusion

A special issue of International Journal of Financial Studies (ISSN 2227-7072).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (27 January 2023) | Viewed by 20815

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Richard Chamboko

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. International Finance Corporation, World Bank Group, Washington, DC 20433, USA
2. Institute for Intelligent Systems, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg 2092, South Africa
Interests: access to finance; digital financial services; digital credit; SME finance; credit risk and recovery modelling and bankruptcy predictions

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Financial technology (Fintech) and digital financial services (DFS) have changed the face of financial services provisioning in developing and emerging markets. They have ushered in new opportunities to serve the poor, the unserved, and underserved segments of the population with financial services, including payments, savings, credit, and insurance. New partnerships between mobile network operators (MNOs), banks, microfinance institutions (MFIs), Fintechs, and governments have emerged to deliver a varied range of financial innovations and products with transformative impact. Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the relevance of Fintech and DFS has been elevated given: i) the need to avoid the exchange of bank notes and coins which could fuel disease transmission, ii) the need to transfer value (remittances) across and within borders to take care of loved ones, and iii) the need by governments to swiftly disburse social payments to cushion the vulnerable. 

This Special Issue is inviting outstanding and novel research, case studies, and review papers on topics that include but not limited to the following:

  • The impact of fintech/digital financial services on financial inclusion, financial sector output, economic growth and development;
  • The challenges and risks posed by the use of digital financial services;
  • The role of regulation in fostering competitive DFS markets;
  • The impact of favorable regulation on DFS driven financial inclusion;
  • The role of Fintech, Data Science, and Artificial Intelligence in advancing DFS provisioning;
  • Predictors/drivers of DFS adoption and active usage;
  • The role of fintech and DFS in advancing SDGs;
  • How digital payments and fintech are being used to address COVID-19 triggered lockdowns and social distancing;
  • How Fintech, digital transformation and DFS can help the recovery of MSMEs from the impact of COVID-19.

Dr. Richard Chamboko
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Financial Studies is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • fintech
  • digital financial services
  • financial and economic inclusion
  • innovation
  • development
  • SDGs
  • competition
  • regulation
  • COVID-19

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 314 KiB  
Article
Can Digital Financial Inclusion Promote Women’s Labor Force Participation? Microlevel Evidence from Africa
by Imane Elouardighi and Kenza Oubejja
Int. J. Financial Stud. 2023, 11(3), 87; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijfs11030087 - 03 Jul 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1987
Abstract
Our study analyzes the relationship between digital financial inclusion and women’s labor force participation, as well as shedding light on the barriers to women’s digital financial inclusion. We have mobilized a microeconomic database that covers 15,192 African women. Our database is extracted from [...] Read more.
Our study analyzes the relationship between digital financial inclusion and women’s labor force participation, as well as shedding light on the barriers to women’s digital financial inclusion. We have mobilized a microeconomic database that covers 15,192 African women. Our database is extracted from the Global Findex database, 2021 edition, based on nationally representative surveys of 29 African countries. The Probit model estimation methodology is used to examine the empirical results. Our findings reveal that financial inclusion via the digital channel is positively associated with women’s labor force participation more than the traditional channel. A significant and positive impact of formal financial services channels on the level of women’s participation in the labor market was uncovered. Our research has shown that women face a variety of obstacles when it comes to accessing financial services, both through traditional channels and digital means. These barriers include nonvoluntary obstacles in traditional financial inclusion channels. However, as a woman’s income level increases, the intensity of these barriers decreases. When it comes to digital financial inclusion, women often face a unique set of obstacles, such as the high cost of mobile financial services, lack of money, and lack of access to a cellphone. The study contributes to the existing literature by investigating the impact of digital financial inclusion on women’s labor force participation in African countries and identifying barriers that hinder women’s digital financial inclusion based on individual-level data. It suggests that African policymakers should increase women’s financial inclusion through digital channels to improve their participation in the labor market. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Digital Financial Inclusion)
20 pages, 1373 KiB  
Article
Maize Productivity and Household Welfare Impacts of Mobile Money Usage in Tanzania
by Happiness Kilombele, Shiferaw Feleke, Tahirou Abdoulaye, Steven Cole, Haruna Sekabira and Victor Manyong
Int. J. Financial Stud. 2023, 11(1), 27; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijfs11010027 - 31 Jan 2023
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2155
Abstract
This study examined the determinants and impacts of mobile money (MM) usage on maize productivity and poverty likelihood (i.e., the probability of a household falling below the international poverty line at USD 1.9 per capita per day) in the Mbeya Region, Tanzania. The [...] Read more.
This study examined the determinants and impacts of mobile money (MM) usage on maize productivity and poverty likelihood (i.e., the probability of a household falling below the international poverty line at USD 1.9 per capita per day) in the Mbeya Region, Tanzania. The analysis was conducted using the endogenous switching regression (ESR) model on data from a random sample of 1310 households selected from seven districts in the region. Results of the ESR estimation show that MM usage is strongly and positively associated with the education level of the household head, asset ownership, credit access, input access, and social networks. MM usage is also significantly associated with increased maize productivity and a reduced poverty likelihood. Farmers who chose to use MM services increased their maize productivity by about 124 kg/acre and reduced their poverty likelihood by nearly 25 percentage points, as measured by the progress out of poverty index. These findings call for a targeted approach to reaching and supporting MM usage among households with constrained access to formal financial services to increase maize productivity and reduce poverty likelihood. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Digital Financial Inclusion)
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17 pages, 1065 KiB  
Article
The Symmetric and Asymmetric Effect of Remittances on Financial Development: Evidence from South Africa
by Mduduzi Biyase and Yourishaa Naidoo
Int. J. Financial Stud. 2023, 11(1), 26; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijfs11010026 - 30 Jan 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2150
Abstract
Investigating the remittance-financial development relationship is an ongoing endeavor among economists and policy makers. Building and improving on the existing work, this study considers the possibility that the relation between remittances and financial development is potentially asymmetric. This study applies the linear ARDL [...] Read more.
Investigating the remittance-financial development relationship is an ongoing endeavor among economists and policy makers. Building and improving on the existing work, this study considers the possibility that the relation between remittances and financial development is potentially asymmetric. This study applies the linear ARDL and captures the possibility of an asymmetrical relationship by applying the non-linear Autoregressive Model (NARDL). Using NARDL, an attempt is made to estimate the short-run and long-run asymmetric responses of financial development through positive and negative partial sum decompositions of changes in remittances. To assess the robustness of the ARDL and NARDL estimates, a battery of long-run robustness tests were employed, including the linear and nonlinear versions of the fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS). Annual data series from 1980 to 2017, derived from the World Development Indicators, Fred Economic data and Penn World Tables were used for this study. The ARDL results reveal a positive and significant impact of remittances on financial development, whereas NARDL estimations suggest a both positive and negative shock of remittances on financial development in the long run: a percentage (%) increase in the remittances brings about 0.121568 percent increase in financial development, whereas a one-percent decrease in remittances produces a 0.33363 percent decrease in financial development. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Digital Financial Inclusion)
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15 pages, 329 KiB  
Article
On the Role of Gender and Age in the Use of Digital Financial Services in Zimbabwe
by Richard Chamboko
Int. J. Financial Stud. 2022, 10(3), 82; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijfs10030082 - 19 Sep 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3072
Abstract
Women and youth in developing countries remain unserved or underserved by formal financial services. The rise of digital financial services (DFS), including mobile money, provides a promise to accelerate financial and economic inclusion to these population segments. As a result, both academic researchers [...] Read more.
Women and youth in developing countries remain unserved or underserved by formal financial services. The rise of digital financial services (DFS), including mobile money, provides a promise to accelerate financial and economic inclusion to these population segments. As a result, both academic researchers and policy makers are increasingly interested in understanding the role of gender and age in the use of DFS across use cases. To nuance this, the current study analyses data from a sample of 3000 respondents collected during the second quarter of 2022 from the ten provinces of Zimbabwe. Results from multivariate logit models, controlling for some socio-economic factors, show that in Zimbabwe, gender is not a significant predictor of receiving income through digital means, making payments for goods and services digitally, or for the frequency of DFS use. On the other hand, youth lag in the use of DFS, especially for making payments for goods and services, and in the frequency of use. Besides the findings on gender and age, the study reveals that the level of education, the source of income, locality, and the level of income are important determinants of how individuals use DFS in Zimbabwe. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Digital Financial Inclusion)
27 pages, 657 KiB  
Article
Exploring Online Payment System Adoption Factors in the Age of COVID-19—Evidence from the Turkish Banking Industry
by Melih Coskun, Ebru Saygili and Mehmet Oguz Karahan
Int. J. Financial Stud. 2022, 10(2), 39; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijfs10020039 - 01 Jun 2022
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 8626
Abstract
Turkey’s e-commerce market is rapidly expanding, and the country is ranked first in the world in monthly mobile purchases. The purpose of this study is to determine the factors that influence the adoption of online payments systems among the customers of a Turkish [...] Read more.
Turkey’s e-commerce market is rapidly expanding, and the country is ranked first in the world in monthly mobile purchases. The purpose of this study is to determine the factors that influence the adoption of online payments systems among the customers of a Turkish bank during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research model extends the technology acceptance model (TAM) by further examining the impact of 11 factors on attitude, behavioral intention and actual usage. The results suggest a strong influence of these factors on attitude and behavioral intention. Relative advantage, perceived trust, perceived usefulness, personal innovativeness, perceived integrity, perceived ease of use, health and epidemic effects, income, private sector employment and self-employment all have a positive effect on actual online payment system usage. However, perceived risk and age have a negative impact on the actual online payment system usage. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Digital Financial Inclusion)
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