Fintech: Financial Inclusion or Exclusion?

May 6, 2022

Preview Citation

Format: Chicago

Yoke Wang Tok, and Dyna Heng. Fintech: Financial Inclusion or Exclusion?, (USA: International Monetary Fund, 2022) accessed December 19, 2024

Disclaimer: IMF Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to encourage debate. The views expressed in IMF Working Papers are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF, its Executive Board, or IMF management.

Summary

This paper examines the role of Fintech in financial inclusion. Using Global Findex data and emerging fintech indicators, we find that Fintech has a higher positive correlation with digital financial inclusion than traditional measures of financial inclusion. In the second stage of our empirical investigation, we examine the key factors that are correlated with the Fletcher School’s three digital divide – gender divide, class (rich-poor) divide and rural divide. The results indicate that greater use of fintech is significantly associated with a narrowing of the class divide and rural divide but there was no impact on the gender divide. These findings imply that Fintech alone may not be sufficient to close the gender gap in access to financial services. Fintech development may need to be complemented with targeted policy initiatives aimed at addressing the gender gap directly, and at changing attitudes and social norms across demographics.

Subject: Digital financial services, Financial inclusion, Financial markets, Fintech, Gender, Gender inequality, Mobile banking, Technology

Keywords: Appendix A. data definition, Asia and Pacific, Caribbean, Class divide, Digital financial services, East Asia, Financial Development, Financial Inclusion, Fintech, Fintech development, Fintech proxy, Gender inequality, Global, Inequality, Middle East, Mobile banking, Role of Fintech, Southeast Asia

Publication Details

Pages:

35
Volume:

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DOI:

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Issue:

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Series:

Working Paper No. 2022/080
Stock No:

WPIEA2022080
ISBN:

9798400208645
ISSN:

1018-5941

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