IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bcp/journl/v9y2025i2p256-273.html

The Impact of Fintech on Financial Inclusion in Southern Nigeria

Author

Listed:
  • EZINWA Chibunna Iroakazi

    (Doctoral Scholar, Ballsbridge University, Commonwealth of Dominica, West Indies)

  • BELLO Sunday Ade

    (Visiting Professor of Management, Entrepreneurship, and Leadership; Ballsbridge University, Commonwealth of Dominica, West Indies)

Abstract

This study examines how fintech affects financial inclusion in Southern Nigeria, with a particular emphasis on improving underbanked and unbanked communities’ access to financial services. The study used a mixed methods approach, integrating qualitative interviews and quantitative surveys done throughout the states of Anambra, Lagos, and Rivers. The results show that, especially for younger, tech-savvy people, fintech has greatly increased access to banking services, savings, credit, and investment opportunities. Disparities between urban and rural areas still exist, nevertheless, with rural areas struggling because of a lack of adequate digital infrastructure. Significant obstacles to wider adoption include worries about security and trust. To address security issues and foster consumer trust, the study suggests that government agencies, regulatory bodies, and fintech companies work together to enhance digital infrastructure in rural areas and create regulatory frameworks. To guarantee that every demographic can take full advantage of fintech innovations, financial literacy initiatives must be expanded.

Suggested Citation

  • EZINWA Chibunna Iroakazi & BELLO Sunday Ade, 2025. "The Impact of Fintech on Financial Inclusion in Southern Nigeria," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 9(2), pages 256-273, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:bcp:journl:v:9:y:2025:i:2:p:256-273
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.rsisinternational.org/journals/ijriss/Digital-Library/volume-9-issue-2/256-273.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://rsisinternational.org/journals/ijriss/articles/the-impact-of-fintech-on-financial-inclusion-in-southern-nigeria/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mingfeng Lin & Nagpurnanand R. Prabhala & Siva Viswanathan, 2013. "Judging Borrowers by the Company They Keep: Friendship Networks and Information Asymmetry in Online Peer-to-Peer Lending," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 59(1), pages 17-35, August.
    2. Rajan, Raghuram G & Zingales, Luigi, 1998. "Financial Dependence and Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(3), pages 559-586, June.
    3. Bello, Sunday Ade & Godwin Emmanuel Oyedokun & Adeolu-Akande, Modupeola Atoke, 2021. "Financial inclusion and gender-induced poverty in Nigeria," International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science (2147-4478), Center for the Strategic Studies in Business and Finance, vol. 10(8), pages 266-274, December.
    4. Daniela Gabor & Sally Brooks, 2017. "The digital revolution in financial inclusion: international development in the fintech era," New Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(4), pages 423-436, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sant'Anna, Dário A.L.M. & Figueiredo, Paulo N., 2024. "Fintech innovation: Is it beneficial or detrimental to financial inclusion and financial stability? A systematic literature review and research directions," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    2. Leite, Rodrigo & Mendes, Layla & Camelo, Emmanuel, 2024. "Innovating microcredit: how fintechs change the field," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    3. Dao Ha & Phuong Le & Duc Khuong Nguyen, 2025. "Financial inclusion and fintech: a state-of-the-art systematic literature review," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 11(1), pages 1-42, December.
    4. Bertsch, Christoph & Hull, Isaiah & Qi, Yingjie & Zhang, Xin, 2020. "Bank misconduct and online lending," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    5. Liu, Aiping & Urquía-Grande, Elena & López-Sánchez, Pilar & Rodríguez-López, Ángel, 2023. "Research into microfinance and ICTs: A bibliometric analysis," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    6. Keongtae Kim & Il-Horn Hann, 2019. "Crowdfunding and the Democratization of Access to Capital—An Illusion? Evidence from Housing Prices," Service Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(1), pages 276-290, March.
    7. Zhong, Weiqiang & Jiang, Tingfeng, 2021. "Can internet finance alleviate the exclusiveness of traditional finance? evidence from Chinese P2P lending markets," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 40(C).
    8. Deng, Jiapin, 2022. "The crowding-out effect of formal finance on the P2P lending market: An explanation for the failure of China's P2P lending industry," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 45(C).
    9. Iacovone, Leonardo & Ferro, Esteban & Pereira-López, Mariana & Zavacka, Veronika, 2019. "Banking crises and exports: Lessons from the past," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 192-204.
    10. Zhe Chen & Yoshinori Kurokawa, 2022. "Do exporters respond to both tariffs and nominal exchange rates? Evidence from Chinese firm‐product data," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(2), pages 514-548, May.
    11. Lily Fang & Josh Lerner & Chaopeng Wu & Qi Zhang, 2023. "Anticorruption, Government Subsidies, and Innovation: Evidence from China," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(8), pages 4363-4388, August.
    12. Oxelheim, Lars & Rafferty, Michael, 2005. "On the static efficiency of secondary bond markets," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 117-135, April.
    13. Ma, Liang & Zhang, Xiaowen, 2025. "Capital allocation efficiency of SMEs: Global evidence," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    14. Lo Turco, Alessia & Maggioni, Daniela & Zazzaro, Alberto, 2019. "Financial dependence and growth: The role of input-output linkages," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 308-328.
    15. Cosimo Magazzino & Marco Mele & Fabio Gaetano Santeramo, 2021. "Using an Artificial Neural Networks Experiment to Assess the Links among Financial Development and Growth in Agriculture," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-15, March.
    16. Babak Naysary & Ruth Tacneng & Amine Tarazi, 2021. "Adoption of fintech services: role of saving and borrowing mechanisms," Working Papers hal-03335254, HAL.
    17. Prince Hikouatcha & Alain Gilles Tagne Foka & Armand Depesquidoux Fossi & Simplice A Asongu, 2024. "Empirical investigation of the Fintech and financial literacy nexus: Small business managers’ insights in Cameroon," African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(2), pages 219-237, February.
    18. Nicola Cetorelli & Michele Gambera, 2001. "Banking Market Structure, Financial Dependence and Growth: International Evidence from Industry Data," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(2), pages 617-648, April.
    19. Randall Morck, 2011. "Finance and Governance in Developing Economies," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 3(1), pages 375-406, December.
    20. Francesco Caselli & Nicola Gennaioli, 2008. "Economics and Politics of Alternative Institutional Reforms," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 123(3), pages 1197-1250.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bcp:journl:v:9:y:2025:i:2:p:256-273. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Dr. Pawan Verma (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://rsisinternational.org/journals/ijriss/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.