Factors that influence the socio-economic impact of financial inclusion programmes in a South African financial institution.

Khoza, Amanda Sibongile

Factors that influence the socio-economic impact of financial inclusion programmes in a South African financial institution.

Date

2015

Authors

Khoza, Amanda Sibongile

Abstract

Financial inclusion programmes are not naturally structurally aligned with the socio-economic needs of the society in which they are implemented. This is due to them primarily being driven from a business and legislative context. Financial inclusion programmes are also subject to adverse selection, resulting in product take-up being most attractive for funeral policies, credit life, and borrowing. Global interest has however increased the scope of programmes such that access to finance has been identified as a catalyst for development, and consequentially, good global corporate citizenry. Based on the literature review, a qualitative model was generated making use of fuzzy cognitive mapping (“FCM”). The FCM was formulated to explore the effects of the circumstantial psychographic and demographic influencing factors of participants in the shaping of and participation in the programmes. The model is based on a multi-faceted causally linked framework of all the identified drivers for the configuring of sustainable and impactful financial inclusion. In-depth, semi-structured interviews with 11 opinion-leader / expert respondents, over 20 hours, were used, together with primary and secondary data and ethnographic content analysis to update the FCM. Factors verified against the theoretical model yield a set of results that comply with and which confirm the observations expressed in the literature, interviews and the source data. Some of the elements that may influence the socio-economic impact of financial inclusion programmes have been identified as business enablement; the legal, political and regulatory framework; product/programme features; accessibility; social capital and standing; and affective, cognitive and conative factors. Key words: access to finance or financial services, demand-side factors, demographics, financial inclusion, fuzzy cognitive mapping, psychographic factors, socio-economic, transformation and supply-side factors.

Description

MBA

Keywords

Microfinance -- South Africa. Economic development -- South Africa. Poor -- Finance, Personal.Banks and banking -- South Africa. Financial institutions -- South Africa.