IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jecomi/v13y2025i5p140-d1659603.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Digital Payments Trust in Latin America and the Caribbean

Author

Listed:
  • Jeniffer Rubio

    (Grupo de Investigación Centro de Investigaciones Económicas, Universidad de Las Américas (UDLA), Vía a Nayón, Quito 170124, Ecuador)

  • Ana Belén Tulcanaza-Prieto

    (Grupo de Investigación Negocios, Economía, Organizaciones, y Sociedad (NEOS), Escuela de Negocios, Universidad de Las Américas (UDLA), Vía a Nayón, Quito 170124, Ecuador)

Abstract

The adoption of electronic payments has increased globally, driving economic growth by enabling smoother transactions. Digital payments enhance speed, security, trust, and efficiency, prompting governments to implement policies that promote financial inclusion through new payment technologies. However, trust in the financial system is crucial for adoption, given concerns about security, fraud, and data breaches. In Latin America and the Caribbean, where economies are vulnerable to external financial shocks, and trust in financial institutions is low, digital payment adoption presents both financial and social challenges. This study analyzes the impact of financial trust on the likelihood of using digital payments in 17 countries, based on the 2023 Latinobarómetro survey (19,205 individuals). Using logit models, it examines financial trust’s influence across income levels. Results show that trust in financial institutions increases the likelihood of digital payment adoption by 62%, with a stronger effect among high-income individuals. Younger age, higher education, and mobile phone ownership also correlate positively with adoption. This study highlights the need to foster financial trust to boost digital payments, enhance financial inclusion, and reduce cash usage—key for tackling inequality and informality. A major limitation is the lack of longitudinal data for further analysis.

Suggested Citation

  • Jeniffer Rubio & Ana Belén Tulcanaza-Prieto, 2025. "Digital Payments Trust in Latin America and the Caribbean," Economies, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-18, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jecomi:v:13:y:2025:i:5:p:140-:d:1659603
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7099/13/5/140/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7099/13/5/140/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    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:gam:jecomi:v:13:y:2025:i:5:p:140-:d:1659603. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.