Financial technology solutions as a tool for enhancing financial inclusion among the unbanked population in Nigeria
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.64171/JSRD.5.2.60-69Keywords:
Financial technology solutions, Financial inclusion, Unbanked population, ATM, Internet BankingAbstract
The study examined financial technology solutions as a tool for enhancing financial inclusion among the unbanked population in Nigeria. The specific objectives of this study were to: examine the impact of automated teller machine (ATM) technological solution on cash dispensing service among the unbanked population in Nigeria and ascertain the impact of internet banking (IB) technological solution on online purchase service among the unbanked population in Nigeria. Research design was descriptive survey research. Study Area is South East, Nigeria. The population of this study comprised of 3,406,000 unbanked population (adult population 18 and above) in South East Nigeria. The choice for only unbanked population in Nigeria was because of important of financial services towards the economic growth (Source: EFInA Access to Financial Services in Nigeria 2020). The study adopted the Slovin’s sampling technique to get sample size of 378 respondents. The study adopted structured questionnaire to obtain data. Research questions of the study were answered using mean score and standard deviation. The hypotheses stated were tested using logistic least square statistic. The empirical results showed that automated teller machine (ATM) technological solution has significant impact on cash dispensing service among the unbanked population in Nigeria (t-statistic = 6.446; P-value (0.000) < Sig-value (0.05) and internet banking (IB) technological solution has significant impact on online purchase service among the unbanked population in Nigeria (t-statistic = 11.826; p-value (0.000) < Sig-value (0.05). The study recommended that financial services providers should advance the use of mobile banking and web payment innovations by customers as this will help reduce the number of unbanked persons especially in the rural economy and also improve the financial performance of the banks.
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