Volume 30, Issue 2, August 2020, Pages 517–526
Clifford Chilasa Agbaeze1
1 Department of Banking and Finance, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike (MOUAU), Abia State, Nigeria
Original language: English
Copyright © 2020 ISSR Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
The study evaluated the impact of cashless policy on financial inclusion in Nigeria for the period 2009 to 2019. Cashless policy instruments adopted in the study were automated teller machine, Point of Sale terminals, mobile phone banking and web (internet) banking while number of depositors per 1,000 adults was adopted as proxy for financial inclusion. Rather than investigating the ‘joint impact’ of cashless policy instruments on financial inclusion, this study investigated the ‘individual impacts’ of the policy instruments on the aforementioned target variable - financial inclusion. Thus, simple regression technique was employed in carrying out the empirical analysis. Findings revealed that automated teller machines; point of sale terminals; mobile phone banking and web cashless instruments had significant impacts on financial inclusion in Nigeria. However, the elasticity of financial inclusion to these cashless policy instruments varied with automated teller machines and web cashless instruments having larger elasticity than point of sale terminals and mobile phone cashless instruments. The study recommended, among others, that Central Bank of Nigeria should make policies aimed at compelling deposit money banks in Nigeria to establish more automated teller machine points in major cities and rural areas as well as increase web transactions in Nigeria. In this way, financial inclusion in Nigeria would be enhanced.
Author Keywords: Cashless policy, cashless policy instruments, financial inclusion, automated teller machines, point of sale, mobile phone banking, web banking.
Clifford Chilasa Agbaeze1
1 Department of Banking and Finance, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike (MOUAU), Abia State, Nigeria
Original language: English
Copyright © 2020 ISSR Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
The study evaluated the impact of cashless policy on financial inclusion in Nigeria for the period 2009 to 2019. Cashless policy instruments adopted in the study were automated teller machine, Point of Sale terminals, mobile phone banking and web (internet) banking while number of depositors per 1,000 adults was adopted as proxy for financial inclusion. Rather than investigating the ‘joint impact’ of cashless policy instruments on financial inclusion, this study investigated the ‘individual impacts’ of the policy instruments on the aforementioned target variable - financial inclusion. Thus, simple regression technique was employed in carrying out the empirical analysis. Findings revealed that automated teller machines; point of sale terminals; mobile phone banking and web cashless instruments had significant impacts on financial inclusion in Nigeria. However, the elasticity of financial inclusion to these cashless policy instruments varied with automated teller machines and web cashless instruments having larger elasticity than point of sale terminals and mobile phone cashless instruments. The study recommended, among others, that Central Bank of Nigeria should make policies aimed at compelling deposit money banks in Nigeria to establish more automated teller machine points in major cities and rural areas as well as increase web transactions in Nigeria. In this way, financial inclusion in Nigeria would be enhanced.
Author Keywords: Cashless policy, cashless policy instruments, financial inclusion, automated teller machines, point of sale, mobile phone banking, web banking.
How to Cite this Article
Clifford Chilasa Agbaeze, “Impact of Cashless Policy on Financial Inclusion in Nigeria,” International Journal of Innovation and Applied Studies, vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 517–526, August 2020.
