Information Effect of Fintech and Digital Finance on Financial Inclusion during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Global Evidence

Peterson K. Ozili (), David Mhlanga, Rym Ammar and Marwa Fersi
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Peterson K. Ozili: Monetary Policy Department, Central Bank of Nigeria, Abuja P.M.B. 0187, Nigeria
David Mhlanga: School of Public Management, Governance and Public Policy, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg P.O. Box 524, South Africa
Marwa Fersi: Department of Applied Economics, University of Sfax, Sfax 3038, Tunisia

FinTech, 2024, vol. 3, issue 1, 1-17

Abstract: The lockdown restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic led to increased interest in Fintech and digital finance solutions, and it gave people an incentive to join the formal financial sector by owning a formal account. People became interested in information about Fintech and digital finance solutions, and it led them to search the Internet to obtain information about Fintech, digital finance, and financial inclusion. In this study, we investigate whether interest in Internet information about Fintech and digital finance led to interest in Internet information about financial inclusion during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using global data that capture interest over time, we found that interest in information about Fintech was greater in developed countries while interest in information about financial inclusion was greater in developing countries during the pandemic. Interest in Fintech information was strongly correlated with interest in financial inclusion information during the pandemic. Interest in Fintech information had a significant positive effect on interest in financial inclusion information during the pandemic. There is a unidirectional causality between interest in Fintech information and interest in financial inclusion information during the pandemic. The implication of these findings is that interest in Fintech information is an important determinant of interest in financial inclusion information.

Keywords: information; digital finance; financial inclusion; Fintech; Internet; COVID-19; pandemic; financial technology; financial innovation; web search; Google Trends (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C6 F3 G O3 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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