Panel Econometric Analysis on Mobile Payment Transactions and Traditional Banks Effort toward Financial Accessibility in Sub-Sahara Africa

Cephas Paa Kwasi Coffie, Hongjiang Zhao and Isaac Adjei Mensah
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Cephas Paa Kwasi Coffie: School of Management and Economics, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 610054, China
Hongjiang Zhao: School of Management and Economics, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 610054, China
Isaac Adjei Mensah: Institute of Applied Systems Analysis (IASA), Faculty of Science, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 3, 1-20

Abstract: The financial landscape of sub-Sahara Africa is undergoing major changes due to the advent of FinTech, which has seen mobile payments boom in the region. This paper examines the salient role of mobile payments in traditional banks’ drive toward financial accessibility in sub-Sahara Africa by using panel econometric approaches that consider the issues of independencies among cross-sectional residuals. Using data from the World Development Index (WDI) 2011–2017 on 11 countries in the region, empirical results from cross-sectional dependence (CD) tests, panel unit root test, panel cointegration test, and the fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) approach indicates that (i) the panel time series data are cross-sectionally independent, (ii) the variables have the same order of integration and are cointegrated, and (iii) growth in mobile payment transactions had a significant positive relationship with formal account ownership, the number of ATMs, and number of new bank branches in the long-run. The paper therefore confirms that the institutional structure of traditional banks that makes them competitive, irrespective of emerging disruptive technologies, has stimulated overall financial accessibility in the region leading to overall sustainable growth in the financial sector. We conclude the paper with feasible policy suggestions.

Keywords: mobile payment; traditional banks; financial access; FinTech; sub-Sahara Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

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