Effects of Financial Innovations on the Financial Inclusion in Nigeria

Abstract

Financial inclusion has been identified as a prerequisite to economic development of any economy, hence the task of making every members of the society financially included by relevant government and financial authorities. This study titled, effects of innovations on financial inclusion in Nigeria covers 2005-2021, seeks to determine the roles financial innovations played in championing the visions of the inclusion policies of Nigerian government. The specific objectives are: to ascertain the effect of agency banking on financial inclusion in Nigeria, to find out the effect of point of sales on financial inclusion in Nigeria, and to examine the effect of internet/mobile banking on financial inclusion in Nigeria. The study adopted ex-post facto research design and the analysis was done with pooled ordinary least square. The results show that agency banking has positive significant effects on financial inclusion in Nigeria, that point of sales has positive and significant effect on the financial inclusion in Nigeria. The study further found a significant positive effect of internet/mobile banking on financial inclusion in Nigeria. The study therefore concludes that financial services innovations such as agency banking, point of sales and internet/mobile banking have major positive and significant effects on the financial inclusion in Nigeria. Based on the foregoing findings, it recommends the following: that banks should license more agents bankers in order to expand operations especially inward to the rural areas for increased financial inclusivity, that businesses should be encouraged on the use of point of sales service channels as it allows free flow of financial transactions and promote financial inclusion and finally, that banks should advance the use of internet/mobile banking and other payment innovations by customers as this will

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