The Fintech Ecosystem and Financial Inclusion: Evidence from Kenya
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Date
2024-07-17
Authors
Kodongo, Odongo
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
African Economic Research Consortium
Abstract
Motivated by calls to examine whether fintech fosters effective financial inclusion, we examined how consumer engagement with the fintech ecosystem affects access to traditional financial services. Using the FinAccess Kenya Household Survey 2021 data, we constructed a novel metric of individual engagement with the fintech ecosystem and investigated how it is associated with consumption of formal traditional financial products at the microlevel. Deploying a battery of econometric procedures, we have provided robust evidence that individual engagement with the fintech ecosystem is positively associated with use of formal traditional financial products. The positive impact of individual engagement with the fintech ecosystem on their use of traditional financial products is transmitted though reduction of the distance barrier and by fostering the consumption of financial products by traditionally disfavoured population segments. We have provided several policy guides anchored on these findings.