Electronic Theses and Dissertations (Masters/MBA)

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10539/37942

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    Financial inclusion through WhatsApp banking in Johannesburg
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2022) Miller, Jade Rowan; Balabanoff,Garth
    Approximately three billion people will use mobile banking by 2024. Mobile devices and widespread Internet access are helping to boost mobile banking's popularity. Retail banks can now offer their customers even more convenience with mobile banking applications like WhatsApp. Consumers and financial institutions have embraced advanced technologies, including mobile banking, in recent years. Social media, mobile banking and new ideas like WhatsApp banking have made it easier for people to do business. Mobile banking is now possible thanks to high smartphone penetration and technological advancements. The fourth industrial revolution will continue to exponentially transform the modern economy. Globalisation has forced banks to open new channels to remain competitive in today's market. Banks have had to cut costs and improve their financial position by introducing new products and services. Mobile banking has grown rapidly globally due to the rapid development of information technology. Due to multi-channel distribution, most banks now have a global presence with cross-border customers. A quantitative approach was taken to examine factors that may influence behavioural intention to use WhatsApp banking in the context of financial inclusion. A questionnaire was used as the primary data collection instrument. The survey was conducted using an online questionnaire distributed to people living in Johannesburg, South Africa. The study adds to the body of knowledge by identifying factors that influence WhatsApp banking adoption, particularly in developing countries. The Technology Acceptance Model by Davis (1985) was used to investigate behavioural intention to use WhatsApp banking. My findings show that perceived trust, banking inclusion, perceived usefulness and awareness all play a significant role in WhatsApp banking adoption. Managers in financial institutions should focus on increasing consumer trust across all age groups to increase customer comfort with non-traditional banking platforms in general and thus increase financial inclusion. This is crucial because ix WhatsApp banking has the potential to bank the unbanked and underbanked while also increasing financial inclusion.
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    Testing assets pricing models on Africa’s mutual fund industry
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2022) Moola, Ahmed; Kodongo, Odongo
    This paper concentrates on testing various asset pricing models on mutual fund returns in six African countries. The various asset pricing models include the CAPM, the Fama-French threefactor model, the Carhart four-factor model, the Fama-French five-factor model and the FamaFrench six-factor model. The models performances were evaluated using a range of performance measures and the best performing asset pricing model was identified in each country as well as across the African mutual fund industry as a whole. With the CAPM being deemed as unable to fully explain returns, it led to the development of new models including more factors that were thought to be vital in explaining returns. The top performing asset pricing model across the African mutual fund industry is the FamaFrench five-factor model as it outperforms both the CAPM and the Fama-French three-factor model. Diving deeper and looking at the performances of the models in each country, the results tend to differ. For South Africa, different models outperform the others across the different metrics, however, for the remaining sample countries, the Fama-French five-factor model outperforms the other models across most performance measures. Across all countries, except South Africa, the profitability factor, RMW, is the only nonredundant factor. All the other factors jointly explain one another. For South Africa, the momentum factor is non-redundant for both the Carhart four-factor model and the FamaFrench six-factor model.
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    Relationship between financial deepening and economic growth for selected countries in Africa
    (2020) Musiyazviriyo, Tafadzwa
    The financial sectors of African countries are still underdeveloped relative to other regions, and there is little academic research on how this can be improved. Given the potential for economic growth, fuelled by further financial sector development, the call is for African policymakers to prioritise financial deepening policies to stimulate economic growth. The purpose of the study was to investigate the relationship between financial deepening and economic growth in 51 African countries. This research sought to achieve three objectives: (i) whether financial depth for the African countries between 1993 and 2017 had a significant impact on economic growth; (ii) whether the effect is positive or negative; and (iii) determining the size of the effect. The assumption was that financial depth in the African countries positively influences economic growth. The study also sought to ascertain whether the direction of causality is unidirectional or bi-directional. This study assumed that the direction of causality is bi-directional. Using the two-step generalised methods of moments (GMM), the study assessed the relationship between financial deepening and economic growth in 51 African countries from 1993 to 2017. The findings reveal that there is a significant negative relationship between financial deepening and economic growth. The Granger causality tests applied further show that there is a bi-directional relationship between financial deepening and economic growth. The main conclusion from the study is that there is a multidimensional approach opportunity for African countries to develop their financial sectors further to stimulate economic growth. Possible interventions in policy can be to create an environment that aims to encourage either a demand-following and/or a supply-leading approach to financial sector development. Both strategies will result in financial deepening and may stimulate economic growth since there is a bi-directional relationship between financial deepening and economic growth.