IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/agd/wpaper/21-077.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Financial determinants of informal financial development in Sub-Saharan Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Simplice A. Asongu

    (Yaounde, Cameroon)

  • Valentine B. Soumtang

    (University of Yaoundé II, Cameroon)

  • Ofeh M. Edoh

    (Yaoundé, Cameroon)

Abstract

This study assesses financial determinants of informal financial sector development in 48 Sub-Saharan African countries for the period 1995-2017. Quantile regressions are used as the empirical strategy which enables the study to assess the determinants throughout the conditional distribution of informal sector development dynamics. The following financial determinants affect informal financial development and financial informalization differently in terms of magnitude and sign: bank overhead costs; net internet margin; bank concentration; return on equity; bank cost to income ratio; financial stability; loans from non-resident banks; offshore bank deposits and remittances. The determinants are presented from a plethora of perspectives, inter alia: U-Shape, S-Shape and positive or negative thresholds. The study not only provides a practical way by which to assess the incidence of financial determinants on informal financial sector development, but also provides financial instruments by which informal financial development can be curbed.

Suggested Citation

  • Simplice A. Asongu & Valentine B. Soumtang & Ofeh M. Edoh, 2021. "Financial determinants of informal financial development in Sub-Saharan Africa," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 21/077, African Governance and Development Institute..
    • Handle: RePEc:agd:wpaper:21/077
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.afridev.org/RePEc/agd/agd-wpaper/Financial-determinants-of-informal-financial-development-in-Sub-Saharan-Africa.pdf
    File Function: Revised version, 2021
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Allen, Franklin & Qian, Meijun & Xie, Jing, 2019. "Understanding informal financing," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 19-33.
    2. Asongu, Simplice A. & Biekpe, Nicholas & Cassimon, Danny, 2021. "On the diffusion of mobile phone innovations for financial inclusion," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    3. 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.
    4. 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.
    5. Asongu, Simplice A. & Biekpe, Nicholas & Cassimon, Danny, 2020. "Understanding the greater diffusion of mobile money innovations in Africa," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(8).
    6. Boateng, Agyenim & Asongu, Simplice & Akamavi, Raphael & Tchamyou, Vanessa, 2018. "Information asymmetry and market power in the African banking industry," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 69-83.
    7. van Wijnbergen, Sweder, 1983. "Credit policy, inflation and growth in a financially repressed economy," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(1-2), pages 45-65.
    8. Simplice Asongu, 2015. "Liberalisation and Financial Sector Competition: A Critical Contribution to the Empirics with an African Assessment," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 83(3), pages 425-451, September.
    9. Simplice A. Asongu, 2013. "Fighting corruption in Africa: do existing corruption‐control levels matter?," International Journal of Development Issues, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 12(1), pages 36-52, April.
    10. Asongu, Simplice A., 2017. "Assessing marginal, threshold, and net effects of financial globalisation on financial development in Africa," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 103-114.
    11. Billger, Sherrilyn M. & Goel, Rajeev K., 2009. "Do existing corruption levels matter in controlling corruption?: Cross-country quantile regression estimates," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(2), pages 299-305, November.
    12. Vanessa S. Tchamyou, 2019. "The Role of Information Sharing in Modulating the Effect of Financial Access on Inequality," Journal of African Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(3), pages 317-338, July.
    13. Tchamyou, Vanessa S. & Asongu, Simplice A., 2017. "Conditional market timing in the mutual fund industry," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 1355-1366.
    14. Tsai, Kellee S., 2004. "Imperfect Substitutes: The Local Political Economy of Informal Finance and Microfinance in Rural China and India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 32(9), pages 1487-1507, September.
    15. 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.
    16. Campero Alejandra & Kaiser Karen, 2013. "Access to Credit: Awareness and Use of Formal and Informal Credit Institutions," Working Papers 2013-07, Banco de México.
    17. Leora Klapper & Dorothe Singer, 2015. "The Role of Informal Financial Services in Africa," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 24(suppl_1), pages 12-31.
    18. Roger Koenker & Kevin F. Hallock, 2001. "Quantile Regression," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 15(4), pages 143-156, Fall.
    19. Lu Deng & Ping Jiang & Sifei Li & Mingqing Liao, 2019. "Social capital and access to informal finance – evidence from Chinese private firms," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 59(5), pages 2767-2815, December.
    20. Zaman, Hassan, 1999. "Assessing the impact of micro-credit on poverty and vulnerability in Bangladesh," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2145, The World Bank.
    21. 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.
    22. Chunfang Cao & Kam C. Chan & Wenxuan Hou & Fansheng Jia, 2019. "Does religion matter to informal finance? Evidence from trade credit in China," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(10), pages 1410-1420, October.
    23. Ullah, Barkat, 2019. "Firm innovation in transition economies: The role of formal versus informal finance," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 58-75.
    24. Steel, William F. & Aryeetey, Ernest & Hettige, Hemamala & Nissanke, Machiko, 1997. "Informal financial markets under liberalization in four African countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 25(5), pages 817-830, May.
    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. Asif, Zainab & Chinzara, Zivanemoyo & Lahiri, Radhika, 2023. "The role of risk and institutions in the adoption and diffusion of technologies: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 16-33.
    2. Simplice Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2023. "Health performance and economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa: new evidence based on quantile regressions," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 50(12), pages 1655-1671, May.

    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. Simplice A. Asongu & Valentine B. Soumtang & Ofeh M. Edoh, 2021. "Financial institutions, poverty and severity of poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 21/081, African Governance and Development Institute..
    2. Asongu, Simplice A. & le Roux, Sara, 2023. "The role of mobile money innovations in transforming unemployed women to self-employed women in sub-Saharan Africa," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    3. Asongu, Simplice A. & Ngoungou, Yolande E. & Nnanna, Joseph, 2023. "Mobile money innovations and health performance in sub-Saharan Africa," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    4. Simplice A. Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2023. "Female unemployment, mobile money innovations and doing business by females," Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 1-26, December.
    5. Simplice A. Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2023. "The effect of inequality on poverty and severity of poverty in SSA: the role of financial development institutions," Working Papers 23/030, European Xtramile Centre of African Studies (EXCAS).
    6. Efobi, Uchenna & Asongu, Simplice & Okafor, Chinelo & Tchamyou, Vanessa & Tanankem, Belmondo, 2019. "Remittances, finance and industrialisation in Africa," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 54-66.
    7. 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.
    8. Simplice A. Asongu & Peter Agyemang-Mintah & Joseph Nnanna & Yolande E. Ngoungou, 2024. "Mobile money innovations, income inequality and gender inclusion in sub-Saharan Africa," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 10(1), pages 1-21, December.
    9. Simplice A. Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2023. "Microfinance institutions and female entrepreneurship in Sub-Saharan Africa: avoidable female unemployment thresholds," Working Papers of The Association for Promoting Women in Research and Development in Africa (ASPROWORDA). 23/007, The Association for Promoting Women in Research and Development in Africa (ASPROWORDA).
    10. Simplice A. Asongu & Joel Hinaunye Eita, 2023. "The conditional influence of poverty, inequality and severity of poverty on economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 23/022, African Governance and Development Institute..
    11. Simplice A. Asongu & Sara le Roux, 2023. "The role of mobile money innovations in the effect of inequality on poverty and severity of poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 23/046, African Governance and Development Institute..
    12. Asongu, Simplice A. & Odhiambo, Nicholas M., 2021. "Inequality, finance and renewable energy consumption in Sub-Saharan Africa," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 165(P1), pages 678-688.
    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 & 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.
    15. Simplice Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2023. "Health performance and economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa: new evidence based on quantile regressions," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 50(12), pages 1655-1671, May.
    16. 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..
    17. Simplice A. Asongu & Rexon T. Nting & Joseph Nnanna, 2020. "Linkages between Globalisation, Carbon Dioxide Emissions and Governance in Sub-Saharan Africa," International Journal of Public Administration, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(11), pages 949-963, August.
    18. Simplice A. Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2018. "Information asymmetry, financialization, and financial access," International Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(3), pages 297-315, December.
    19. Simplice A. Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2022. "The of role economic growth in modulating mobile connectivity dynamics for financial inclusion in developing countries," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 22/013, African Governance and Development Institute..
    20. Asongu, Simplice A. & Agyemang-Mintah, Peter & Nting, Rexon T., 2021. "Law, mobile money drivers and mobile money innovations in developing countries," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Informal finance; financial development; Africa;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G2 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services
    • O1 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development
    • 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:21/077. 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.