IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/agd/wpaper/16-008.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Role of ICT in Reducing Information Asymmetry for Financial Access

Author

Listed:
  • Simplice Asongu

    (Yaoundé/Cameroun)

  • Bertrand Moulin

    (Yaoundé/Cameroun)

Abstract

This study assesses the role of ICT in complementing private credit bureaus (PCB) and public credit registries (PCR) in reducing information asymmetry for financial access. The empirical evidence is based on Generalised Method of Moments with 53 African countries for the period 2004-2011. The following findings are established. First on financial access: (i) the marginal effects from interactions between ICT and PCR (PCB) are consistently positive (negative); (ii) net effects from interactions are negative with the higher magnitude from PCR and (iii) only thresholds corresponding to interactions between PCR and internet penetration are within range. Second, findings on financial allocation efficiency reveal positive marginal and net effects exclusively for mobile phones and PCR. Third, allocation efficiency may be constrained by increasing financial deposits. Overall, the complementarity between information offices and ICT in boosting financial access is still very limited. Policy implications are discussed with emphasis on improving the engaged complementarity and fighting surplus liquidity.

Suggested Citation

  • Simplice Asongu & Bertrand Moulin, 2016. "The Role of ICT in Reducing Information Asymmetry for Financial Access," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 16/008, African Governance and Development Institute..
  • Handle: RePEc:agd:wpaper:16/008
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.afridev.org/RePEc/agd/agd-wpaper/The-Role-of-ICT-in-Reducing-Information-Asymmetry-for-Financial-Access.pdf
    File Function: Revised version, 2016
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pagano, Marco & Jappelli, Tullio, 1993. "Information Sharing in Credit Markets," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 48(5), pages 1693-1718, December.
    2. Asongu, Simplice & Nwachukwu, Jacinta & Tchamyou, Vanessa, 2015. "Information Asymmetry and Financial Development Dynamics in Africa," MPRA Paper 68315, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Simplice A. Asongu, 2018. "Conditional Determinants of Mobile Phones Penetration and Mobile Banking in Sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 9(1), pages 81-135, March.
    4. Simplice Asongu & Vanessa Tchamyou, 2015. "The Comparative African Regional Economics of Globalization in Financial Allocation Efficiency," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 15/053, African Governance and Development Institute..
    5. Paolo Coccorese & Alfonso Pellecchia, 2010. "Testing the ‘Quiet Life’ Hypothesis in the Italian Banking Industry," Economic Notes, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, vol. 39(3), pages 173-202, November.
    6. Michael Enowbi‐Batuo & Mlambo Kupukile, 2010. "How can economic and political liberalisation improve financial development in African countries?," Journal of Financial Economic Policy, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 2(1), pages 35-59, April.
    7. Arellano, Manuel & Bover, Olympia, 1995. "Another look at the instrumental variable estimation of error-components models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 29-51, July.
    8. Greenwood, Jeremy & Jovanovic, Boyan, 1990. "Financial Development, Growth, and the Distribution of Income," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(5), pages 1076-1107, October.
    9. David Roodman, 2009. "How to do xtabond2: An introduction to difference and system GMM in Stata," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 9(1), pages 86-136, March.
    10. Paolo Coccorese, 2012. "Information sharing, market competition and antitrust intervention: a lesson from the Italian insurance sector," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(3), pages 351-359, January.
    11. Huybens, Elisabeth & Smith, Bruce D., 1999. "Inflation, financial markets and long-run real activity," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 283-315, April.
    12. Djankov, Simeon & McLiesh, Caralee & Shleifer, Andrei, 2007. "Private credit in 129 countries," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(2), pages 299-329, May.
    13. Vanessa Simen Tchamyou, 2017. "The Role of Knowledge Economy in African Business," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 8(4), pages 1189-1228, December.
    14. Brambor, Thomas & Clark, William Roberts & Golder, Matt, 2006. "Understanding Interaction Models: Improving Empirical Analyses," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(1), pages 63-82, January.
    15. Leland, Hayne E & Pyle, David H, 1977. "Informational Asymmetries, Financial Structure, and Financial Intermediation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 32(2), pages 371-387, May.
    16. Acharya, Viral V. & Amihud, Yakov & Litov, Lubomir, 2011. "Creditor rights and corporate risk-taking," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(1), pages 150-166, October.
    17. Brockman, Paul & Unlu, Emre, 2009. "Dividend policy, creditor rights, and the agency costs of debt," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(2), pages 276-299, May.
    18. Thierry PENARD & Nicolas POUSSING & Gabriel ZOMO YEBE & Philémon NSI ELLA, 2012. "Comparing the Determinants of Internet and Cell Phone Use in Africa: Evidence from Gabon," Communications & Strategies, IDATE, Com&Strat dept., vol. 1(86), pages 65-83, 2nd quart.
    19. Dwight Jaffee & Mark Levonian, 2001. "The Structure of Banking Systems in Developed and Transition Economies," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 7(2), pages 161-181, June.
    20. Ross Levine, 1997. "Financial Development and Economic Growth: Views and Agenda," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 35(2), pages 688-726, June.
    21. Brown, Martin & Jappelli, Tullio & Pagano, Marco, 2009. "Information sharing and credit: Firm-level evidence from transition countries," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 151-172, April.
    22. Jappelli, Tullio & Pagano, Marco, 2002. "Information sharing, lending and defaults: Cross-country evidence," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 26(10), pages 2017-2045, October.
    23. Stijn Claessens & Leora F. Klapper, 2005. "Bankruptcy around the World: Explanations of Its Relative Use," American Law and Economics Review, Oxford University Press, vol. 7(1), pages 253-283.
    24. Mr. David Hauner & Mr. Shanaka J Peiris, 2005. "Bank Efficiency and Competition in Low-Income Countries: The Case of Uganda," IMF Working Papers 2005/240, International Monetary Fund.
    25. Sandrine Kablan, 2010. "Banking Efficiency and Financial Development in Sub-Saharan Africa," IMF Working Papers 2010/136, International Monetary Fund.
    26. Ivashina, Victoria, 2009. "Asymmetric information effects on loan spreads," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(2), pages 300-319, May.
    27. Douglas W. Diamond & Philip H. Dybvig, 2000. "Bank runs, deposit insurance, and liquidity," Quarterly Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, vol. 24(Win), pages 14-23.
    28. Simplice A. Asongu, 2014. "Correcting Inflation with Financial Dynamic Fundamentals: Which Adjustments Matter in Africa?," Journal of African Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(1), pages 64-73, April.
    29. Stiglitz, Joseph E & Weiss, Andrew, 1981. "Credit Rationing in Markets with Imperfect Information," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 71(3), pages 393-410, June.
    30. Badi H. Baltagi, 2008. "Forecasting with panel data," Journal of Forecasting, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(2), pages 153-173.
    31. Padilla, A. Jorge & Pagano, Marco, 2000. "Sharing default information as a borrower discipline device," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(10), pages 1951-1980, December.
    32. Williamson, Stephen D., 1986. "Costly monitoring, financial intermediation, and equilibrium credit rationing," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 159-179, September.
    33. Sandrine Kablan, 2009. "Mesure de la Performance des Banques dans les Pays en Développement : Le Cas de l'UEMOA (Union Economique et Monétaire Ouest Africaine)," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 21(2), pages 367-399.
    34. Dwight M. Jaffee & Thomas Russell, 1976. "Imperfect Information, Uncertainty, and Credit Rationing," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 90(4), pages 651-666.
    35. Temple, Jonathan & Huang, Yongfu, 2005. "Does External Trade Promote Financial Development?," CEPR Discussion Papers 5150, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    36. Ali Ataullah & Tony Cockerill & Hang Le, 2004. "Financial liberalization and bank efficiency: a comparative analysis of India and Pakistan," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(17), pages 1915-1924.
    37. Simplice A Asongu, 2013. "How has politico-economic liberalization affected financial allocation efficiency? Fresh African evidence," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 33(1), pages 663-676.
    38. Yongfu Huang, 2011. "Private Investment and Financial Development," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Determinants of Financial Development, chapter 3, pages 64-100, Palgrave Macmillan.
    39. Mr. Magnus Saxegaard, 2006. "Excess Liquidity and Effectiveness of Monetary Policy: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa," IMF Working Papers 2006/115, International Monetary Fund.
    40. Yongfu Huang, 2011. "Private investment and financial development in a globalized world," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 41(1), pages 43-56, August.
    41. David Roodman, 2009. "A Note on the Theme of Too Many Instruments," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 71(1), pages 135-158, February.
    42. Iris Claus & Arthur Grimes, 2003. "Asymmetric Information, Financial Intermediation and the Monetary Transmission Mechanism: A Critical Review," Treasury Working Paper Series 03/19, New Zealand Treasury.
    43. Douglas W. Diamond, 1984. "Financial Intermediation and Delegated Monitoring," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 51(3), pages 393-414.
    44. Simplice Asongu, 2014. "Financial development dynamic thresholds of financial globalization," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 41(2), pages 166-195, March.
    45. Sandrine Kablan, 2009. "Banking Efficiency and Financial Development in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)," The African Finance Journal, Africagrowth Institute, vol. 11(2), pages 28-50.
    46. Muto, Megumi & Yamano, Takashi, 2009. "The Impact of Mobile Phone Coverage Expansion on Market Participation: Panel Data Evidence from Uganda," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(12), pages 1887-1896, December.
    47. Yongfu Huang, 2005. "What determines financial development?," Bristol Economics Discussion Papers 05/580, School of Economics, University of Bristol, UK.
    48. Do, Quy-Toan & Levchenko, Andrei A., 2004. "Trade and financial development," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3347, The World Bank.
    49. Evans Stephen Osabuohien & Uchenna Rapuluchukwu Efobi, 2013. "Africa's Money in Africa," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 81(2), pages 292-306, June.
    50. Easterly, William, 2005. "What did structural adjustment adjust?: The association of policies and growth with repeated IMF and World Bank adjustment loans," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(1), pages 1-22, February.
    51. Asongu Simplice, 2011. "Government Quality Determinants of Stock Market Performance in African Countries," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 11/019, African Governance and Development Institute..
    52. Mr. Dhaneshwar Ghura & Mr. Kangni R Kpodar & Mr. Raju J Singh, 2009. "Financial Deepening in the CFA Franc Zone: The Role of Institutions," IMF Working Papers 2009/113, International Monetary Fund.
    53. Barth, James R. & Lin, Chen & Lin, Ping & Song, Frank M., 2009. "Corruption in bank lending to firms: Cross-country micro evidence on the beneficial role of competition and information sharing," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(3), pages 361-388, March.
    54. Kangni Kpodar & Raju Jan Singh & Dhaneshwar Ghura, 2009. "Financial Deepening in the CFA Franc Zone: The Role of Institutions," Post-Print hal-00450079, HAL.
    55. Chuling Chen, 2009. "Bank Efficiency in Sub-Saharan African Middle Income Countries," IMF Working Papers 2009/014, International Monetary Fund.
    56. Andonova, Veneta, 2006. "Mobile phones, the Internet and the institutional environment," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 29-45, February.
    57. Thouraya Triki & Ousman Gajigo, 2014. "Credit Bureaus and Registration and Access to Finance: New Evidence from 42 African Countries," Journal of African Development, African Finance and Economic Association (AFEA), vol. 16(2), pages 73-101.
    58. Houston, Joel F. & Lin, Chen & Lin, Ping & Ma, Yue, 2010. "Creditor rights, information sharing, and bank risk taking," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(3), pages 485-512, June.
    59. Inessa Love & Nataliya Mylenko, 2003. "Credit reporting and financing constraints," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3142, The World Bank.
    60. Boyd, John H. & Levine, Ross & Smith, Bruce D., 2001. "The impact of inflation on financial sector performance," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 221-248, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Benlagha, Noureddine & Hemrit, Wael, 2020. "Internet use and insurance growth: evidence from a panel of OECD countries," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    2. Olatunji A. Shobande & Simplice A. Asongu, 2021. "Financial Development, Human Capital Development and Climate Change in East and Southern Africa," Working Papers 21/042, European Xtramile Centre of African Studies (EXCAS).
    3. Asongu, Simplice A. & Biekpe, Nicholas, 2018. "ICT, information asymmetry and market power in African banking industry," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 518-531.
    4. Marszk, Adam & Lechman, Ewa, 2019. "New technologies and diffusion of innovative financial products: Evidence on exchange-traded funds in selected emerging and developed economies," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    5. Hewa Wellalage, Nirosha & Hunjra, Ahmed Imran & Manita, Riadh & Locke, Stuart M., 2021. "Information communication technology and financial inclusion of innovative entrepreneurs," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    6. Leonardo Becchetti & Emanuele Bobbio & Federico Prizia & Lorenzo Semplici, 2022. "Going Deeper into the S of ESG: A Relational Approach to the Definition of Social Responsibility," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-22, August.
    7. Alex Barimah Owusu & Paul W. K. Yankson & Stephen Frimpong, 2018. "Smallholder farmers’ knowledge of mobile telephone use: Gender perspectives and implications for agricultural market development," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 18(1), pages 36-51, January.
    8. Khan, Muhammad Zubair & Khan, Zafir Ullah & Hameed, Affan & Zada, Shehnaz Sahib, 2021. "On the upside or flipside: Where is venture capital positioned in the era of digital disruptions?," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).

    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. Vanessa S. Tchamyou & Simplice A. Asongu, 2017. "Information Sharing and Financial Sector Development in Africa," Journal of African Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(1), pages 24-49, January.
    2. Simplice A. Asongu, Phd & Joseph Nnanna D.B.A, . "Ict In Reducing Information Asymmmetry For Financial Sector Competition," Journal of Economic and Sustainable Growth 1, Office Of The Chief Economist, Development Bank of Nigeria.
    3. Simplice A. Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2020. "The Mobile Phone, Information Sharing, and Financial Sector Development in Africa: a Quantile Regression Approach," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 11(3), pages 1234-1269, September.
    4. Simplice A. Asongu & Jacinta C. Nwachukwu, 2017. "At what levels of financial development does information sharing matter?," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 3(1), pages 1-30, December.
    5. Asongu, Simplice A. & Nwachukwu, Jacinta C., 2017. "The synergy of financial sector development and information sharing in financial access: Propositions and empirical evidence," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 242-258.
    6. Simplice Asongu & Jacinta Nwachukwu, 2017. "Information asymmetry and conditional financial sector development," Journal of Financial Economic Policy, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 9(4), pages 372-392, November.
    7. Simplice Asongu & Jacinta C. Nwachukwu & Vanessa S. Tchamyou, 2015. "Information Asymmetry and Financial Development Dynamics in Africa," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 15/025, African Governance and Development Institute..
    8. Simplice A. Asongu & John C. Anyanwu & Vanessa S. Tchamyou, 2019. "Technology-driven information sharing and conditional financial development in Africa," Information Technology for Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(4), pages 630-659, October.
    9. Simplice A. Asongu & Jacinta C. Nwachukwu, 2019. "ICT, Financial Sector Development and Financial Access," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 10(2), pages 465-490, June.
    10. Asongu, Simplice & Anyanwu, John & Tchamyou, Vanessa, 2016. "Information sharing and conditional financial development in Africa," MPRA Paper 74653, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Simplice A. Asongu & Paul N. Acha-Anyi, 2017. "ICT, conflicts in financial intermediation and financial access: evidence of synergy and threshold effects," Netnomics, Springer, vol. 18(2), pages 131-168, December.
    12. Simplice A. Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2018. "Information asymmetry, financialization, and financial access," International Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(3), pages 297-315, December.
    13. Simplice A. Asongu, Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2022. "Information for banking efficiency in Africa: evidence from income levels and legal origins," European Journal of Comparative Economics, Cattaneo University (LIUC), vol. 19(2), pages 251-274, December.
    14. Simplice A. Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2022. "Information Sharing and Banking Efficiency in Africa: A Disaggregated Panel Data Analysis," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 22/010, African Governance and Development Institute..
    15. Asongu, Simplice A., 2017. "The effect of reducing information asymmetry on loan price and quantity in the African banking industry," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 185-197.
    16. Asongu, Simplice & Tchamyou, Vanessa, 2015. "The Comparative African Regional Economics of Globalization in Financial Allocation Efficiency," MPRA Paper 71173, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Asongu, Simplice & Le Roux, Sara, 2016. "Reducing Information Asymmetry with ICT: A critical review of loan price and quantity effects in Africa," MPRA Paper 75043, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Asongu, Simplice & Nwachukwu, Jacinta C., 2015. "Finance and Inclusive Human Development: Evidence from Africa," MPRA Paper 71787, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Simplice Asongu & Ibrahim Raheem & Venessa Tchamyou, 2018. "Information asymmetry and financial dollarization in sub-Saharan Africa," African Journal of Economic and Management Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 9(2), pages 231-249, June.
    20. Simplice A. Asongu & Joseph Nnanna & Vanessa S. Tchamyou, 2020. "The comparative African regional economics of globalization in financial allocation efficiency: the pre-crisis era revisited," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 6(1), pages 1-41, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Financial access; Information asymmetry; ICT;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G20 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - General
    • G29 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Other
    • L96 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Telecommunications
    • O40 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - General
    • O55 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Africa

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:agd:wpaper:16/008. 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: Asongu Simplice (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/agdiycm.html .

    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.