Internet and Communication Technology Development, Digital Payment and Global Financial Inclusion: A Cross-Country Analysis Using Panel Data

Internet and Communication Technology Development, Digital Payment and Global Financial Inclusion: A Cross-Country Analysis Using Panel Data
Author: Chenming Ran
Publisher:
Total Pages: 112
Release: 2020
Genre: Public policy
ISBN:

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Digitalization is viewed as a promising solution to address global financial inclusion – a core topic of economic development and poverty reduction. While traditional financial institutions are not fully capable of providing financial services to low-income populations, digital payment can potentially leverage alternative data for credit scoring, reduce the need for physical infrastructure, and provide affordable transaction services. Internet and Communication Technology (ICT) development, represented by access to mobile phone and internet, provides basis for applying digital payment and thus determines the level of financial inclusion. This paper analyzes to what extent individual access to ICT infrastructure impacts the level of financial inclusion. Using panel data of 189 countries and 12 years from 2005 to 2017, this paper applies fixed-effects regression to test the role of mobile subscription and internet access in predicting 1) deposit accounts, 2) loan accounts, 3) outstanding deposits and 4) outstanding loans at commercial banks, along with control factors of bank overhead cost, income, education, urban population, remittance, inflation, government effectiveness, political stability and the rule of law. As a result, the paper found strong positive effects of ICT development on financial inclusion: higher levels of mobile penetration and internet coverage are associated with higher number of bank accounts, as well as more deposits and loans taken from commercial banks. A close focus on developing countries also yield similar results, despite a higher weight on inflation control and regulation to stimulate the use of financial services. The finding supports that countries should prioritize ICT infrastructure for financial inclusion, in order to improve economic wellbeing of ordinary people. The paper also emphasizes the importance of stabling and government regulatory quality along with investments to extend financial services.

Digitalization and Economic Development

Digitalization and Economic Development
Author: Mohamed Sami Ben Ali
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 226
Release: 2022-06-09
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1000574156

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This book analyses the impact of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) on economic development. It contains theoretical and empirical studies, including panel studies on various issues facing developing countries, such as education, corruption, economic growth, government expenditure, financial inclusion, foreign direct investment, infrastructure, economic and social welfare, and inequality. Each chapter offers a well-conceived analysis of the most recent trends in both theory and empirics and addresses numerous policy implications related to the different aspects dealt with in the volume. Overall, this book will be an excellent guide for global graduate students at the Master and PhD levels, as well as academics researching various issues related to economic development while analyzing the role of ICTs. It also addresses numerous policy implications related to economic development for policymakers, investors and stakeholders.

The Promise of Fintech

The Promise of Fintech
Author: Ms.Ratna Sahay
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 83
Release: 2020-07-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1513512242

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Technology is changing the landscape of the financial sector, increasing access to financial services in profound ways. These changes have been in motion for several years, affecting nearly all countries in the world. During the COVID-19 pandemic, technology has created new opportunities for digital financial services to accelerate and enhance financial inclusion, amid social distancing and containment measures. At the same time, the risks emerging prior to COVID-19, as digital financial services developed, are becoming even more relevant.

The Global Findex Database 2017

The Global Findex Database 2017
Author: Asli Demirguc-Kunt
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 228
Release: 2018-04-19
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1464812683

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In 2011 the World Bank—with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation—launched the Global Findex database, the world's most comprehensive data set on how adults save, borrow, make payments, and manage risk. Drawing on survey data collected in collaboration with Gallup, Inc., the Global Findex database covers more than 140 economies around the world. The initial survey round was followed by a second one in 2014 and by a third in 2017. Compiled using nationally representative surveys of more than 150,000 adults age 15 and above in over 140 economies, The Global Findex Database 2017: Measuring Financial Inclusion and the Fintech Revolution includes updated indicators on access to and use of formal and informal financial services. It has additional data on the use of financial technology (or fintech), including the use of mobile phones and the Internet to conduct financial transactions. The data reveal opportunities to expand access to financial services among people who do not have an account—the unbanked—as well as to promote greater use of digital financial services among those who do have an account. The Global Findex database has become a mainstay of global efforts to promote financial inclusion. In addition to being widely cited by scholars and development practitioners, Global Findex data are used to track progress toward the World Bank goal of Universal Financial Access by 2020 and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The database, the full text of the report, and the underlying country-level data for all figures—along with the questionnaire, the survey methodology, and other relevant materials—are available at www.worldbank.org/globalfindex.

Digital finance and inclusion in the time of COVID-19

Digital finance and inclusion in the time of COVID-19
Author: Benni, N.
Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org.
Total Pages: 94
Release: 2021-01-04
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 9251336237

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The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted digital financial inclusion trends across the world in many and complex ways. In developing and emerging contexts, this crisis also holds the potential to propel an unprecedented acceleration in the process of financial digitization and turn out to be a game-changer for digital financial inclusion. The aim of this study is to illustrate the opportunities and risks associated with the surge in uptake and use of digital financial service, providing ideas on how to leverage the paradigm changes affecting the overall approach and perspective towards digital financial services – on the part of various stakeholders – to advance financial inclusion and development. It also seeks to showcase how digital financial services have been used – in both traditional and innovative ways – to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on economies and societies, by both public and private actors.

Improving Digital Financial Services Inclusion

Improving Digital Financial Services Inclusion
Author: Yergali Berdibayev
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2020
Genre:
ISBN:

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The first goal of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is the absence of poverty to be achieved by 2030. Thus, access to and usage of financial services play an important role in achieving this, where ICT and digital technologies are the main tools, that describe it as a digital financial service (DFS). It defines the provision of financial services and products through digital channels (mobile phone, cards, Internet etc.), and where DFS can be used remotely. DFS inclusion means to increase an access and usage of DFS through digital channels. We collected data for two years (Findex, 2014 & 2017) in 120 countries, overall 240 observation, and with depended variable as DFS inclusion, and independent 12 variables, such as GDP per capita, ATMs per adults, basic skills, Internet usage, mobile subscription, mobile 3G & 4G coverages (separately), mobile internet tariffs, handset prices, political stability, control of corruption and cybersecurity. In general, the regression yielded good results. Factors such as GDP per capita, political stability, control of corruption, mobile 4G coverage, ATMs per adults and mobile Internet tariffs are statistically significant factors for DFS inclusion. In addition, the r-squared value shows more than 0.8 in all models (running with 3G coverage, 4G coverage, both and also with dummy variable).

The Global Findex Database 2021

The Global Findex Database 2021
Author: Asli Demirgüç-Kunt
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2022-10-13
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1464818983

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The fourth edition of the Global Findex offers a lens into how people accessed and used financial services during the COVID-19 pandemic, when mobility restrictions and health policies drove increased demand for digital services of all kinds. The Global Findex is the world’s most comprehensive database on financial inclusion. It is also the only global demand-side data source allowing for global and regional cross-country analysis to provide a rigorous and multidimensional picture of how adults save, borrow, make payments, and manage financial risks. Global Findex 2021 data were collected from national representative surveys of about 128,000 adults in more than 120 economies. The latest edition follows the 2011, 2014, and 2017 editions, and it includes a number of new series measuring financial health and resilience and contains more granular data on digital payment adoption, including merchant and government payments. The Global Findex is an indispensable resource for financial service practitioners, policy makers, researchers, and development professionals.

Is Digital Financial Inclusion Unlocking Growth?

Is Digital Financial Inclusion Unlocking Growth?
Author: Purva Khera
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 30
Release: 2021-06-11
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1513584669

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Digital financial services have been a key driver of financial inclusion in recent years. While there is evidence that financial inclusion through traditional services has a positive impact on economic growth, do the same results carry over for digital financial inclusion? What drives digital financial inclusion? Why does it advance more in some countries but not in others? Using new indices of financial inclusion developed in Khera et. al. (2021), this paper addresses these questions for 52 developing countries. Using cross-sectional instrument variable procedure, we find that the exogenous component of digital financial inclusion is positively associated with growth in GDP per capita during 2011-2018, which suggests that digital financial inclusion can accelerate economic growth. Fractional logit and random effects empirical estimation identifies access to infrastructure, financial and digital literacy, and quality of institutions as key drivers of digital financial inclusion. These findings are then used to help inform policy recommendations in areas related to the digitization of financial services to promote financial inclusion.

Inequality in Financial Inclusion and Income Inequality

Inequality in Financial Inclusion and Income Inequality
Author: Goksu Aslan
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 32
Release: 2017-11-07
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1484328728

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We investigate the link between gender inequality in financial inclusion and income inequality, with three contributions to the recent literature. First, using a micro-dataset covering 146,000 individuals in over 140 countries, we construct novel, synthetic indices of the intensity of financial inclusion at the individual and country level. Second, we derive the distribution of individual financial access “scores” across countries to document a “Kuznets”-curve in financial inclusion. Third, cross-country regressions confirm that our measure of inequality in financial access is significantly related to income inequality, above and beyond other factors previously highlighted in the literature.

The Effects of 4G Coverage on Financial Inclusion

The Effects of 4G Coverage on Financial Inclusion
Author: Jose Luis Torres Chavez
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2023
Genre:
ISBN:

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Poverty is a global phenomenon that still affects millions of people around the world. In the last decades it started to be studied and defined not only as the lack of economical resources to thrive on a daily basis, but as a multidimensional problem. Mexico was the first country in the world to carry out an official multidimensional poverty measure. This methodology complements the income dimension with other social deprivation indicators; allowing for interaction between economic and social effects on well-being (CONEVAL, 2020). In this sense, a person is considered to be poor not only because its income falls below an arbitrary and outdated benchmark, but because he is lacking both basic access to social rights and sufficient economic resources. In this context, information and communication technologies (ICTs) become very relevant, as they can now be considered a basic necessity just as food, health and education.Mobile phone services arrived to Mexico in 1989 brought by Telcel and Iusacell. In 2005 3G was launched and three years later it reached its first million connection. In 2010, it reached 10 million connections and only two years later, it registered 100 million connections. That same year, in 2012, 4G was formally launched in the country, reaching its first million connection one year later (GSMA, 2016).In this context, one of the most recent studied mechanisms through which ICTs, specifically mobile broadband, could foster development, mainly amongst the most marginalised population, is the access to financial services. Financial inclusion is then a basic pillar of development, a tool for individuals to have access to financial products that may allow them to smooth consumption and transfer money through time and space more effectively (Bateman et al., 2019). In Mexico, however, the level of financial inclusion is at 36.9 per cent, 20 percentage points below countries with comparable levels of per capita income and relative to its income, it is the worst performing Latin American country (The World Bank, 2021).Moreover, one of the most promising tool to promote financial inclusion, is digital banking. Digital banking services include a variety of services with special features that differentiate one from another. According to the Comisi ́on Nacional Bancaria y de Valores (CNBV), we can distinguish three different services: Mobile money, digital bank accounts and mobile banking. The present research narrows down the analysis to the last two services, which necessarily require broadband connection to work.This paper estimates the impact of broadband coverage on Financial Inclusion in Mexico, via mobile banking. Based on data on broadband coverage retrieved from GSM Association (GSMA) and Collins Bartholomew and financial inclusion data published by the Comisi ́on Nacional Bancaria y de Valores (CNBV), it consists of a quasi-experimental analysis based on difference-in-difference and instrumental variables strategy to estimate broadband coverage impact on the use of mobile banking.Under the COVID-19 crisis, the Mexican government has put special emphasis on financial access as a main recovery effort to promote growth and poverty reduction (The World Bank, 2021). In this context, the results of the present research show that the deployment of 4G coverage at the municipality level, has a positive and statistically significant impact on the number of mobile banking accounts per c ́apita. This suggests that poverty alleviation policies aiming to foster financial inclusion, should take into consideration the promotion of universal access to quality broadband coverage, as it promises to be an important mechanism towards it.