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Customized financial literacy: a boon for universal financial inclusion of PWDs post COVID-19 pandemic in developing countries

George Okello Candiya Bongomin (Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research & Finance Department, Makerere University Business School, Kampala, Uganda)
Pierre Yourougou (Institut National Polytechnique Felix Houphouet-Boigny, Yamoussoukro, Cote d’Ivoire)
Rebecca Balinda (Finance Department, Kigali Independent University, Kigali, Rwanda)
Joseph Baleke Yiga Lubega (Finance Department, Ndejje University, Kampala, Uganda)

Journal of Financial Regulation and Compliance

ISSN: 1358-1988

Article publication date: 6 March 2024

Issue publication date: 3 April 2024

217

Abstract

Purpose

Currently, consumers of financial products and services have become more vulnerable to predatory financial institutions, especially in the aftermath of Covid-19 pandemic. Therefore, financial consumers like the persons with disabilities (PWDs) should be equipped with knowledge and skills to help them to evaluate complex financial products on offer in financial markets, especially in developing countries to avoid being victims of fraudulent lending. The purpose of this study is to establish whether customized financial literacy mediates the relationship between financial consumer protection and financial inclusion of PWDs’ owned MSMEs in rural Uganda post Covid-19 pandemic.

Design/methodology/approach

SmartPLS 4.0 was used to construct the measurement and structural equation models to test whether customized financial literacy significantly mediates the relationship between financial consumer protection and financial inclusion of PWDs’ owned MSMEs in rural Uganda post Covid-19 pandemic.

Findings

The results revealed a partial mediating effect of customized financial literacy in the relationship between financial consumer protection and financial inclusion of PWDs’ owned MSMEs in rural Uganda post Covid-19 pandemic. Conducting customized financial literacy increases financial consumer protection by 12 percentage points to promote financial inclusion of PWDs’ owned MSMEs in rural Uganda post Covid-19 pandemic.

Research limitations/implications

This study focused only on customized financial literacy and financial consumer protection to promote universal financial inclusion of PWDs’ owned MSMEs post Covid-19 pandemic. Future studies may use data collected from other vulnerable groups amongst the unbanked population in developing countries, Uganda inclusive. In addition, this study also collected only quantitative data from the selected population. Further studies can be conducted using key informant interviews and focused group discussion to get the perceptions of the PWDs on being protected from exploitation by unscrupulous financial institutions.

Practical implications

The findings from this study can help policymakers in developing countries like Uganda to revise the existing consumer protection law to include strong clauses on protection of people with special needs like the PWDs. The law must ensure that they are not exploited by financial institutions because of their conditions. The law ought to make sure that the PWDs are educated about their rights in the financial market place and all information on financial products offered by financial institutions should be simplified and interpreted to them before they make consumption decisions.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the present study is amongst the first few studies to provide a meticulous and unique discourse on the ever increasing role of financial literacy combined with consumer protection to reduce consumption risks within the financial markets, especially in developing countries in the aftermath of global pandemic shocks. This study uses the social learning theory, theory of reasoned action and theory of planned behaviour to elucidate how customized financial literacy can enhance consumer protection to increase financial inclusion of groups with special needs like the PWDs who have become more susceptible to exploitation by unscrupulous financial institutions in under-developed financial markets, especially in post Covid-19 pandemic.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for the exceptional and constructive comments and the editors for the attention and feedback given to this manuscript, which have helped to significantly improve it to publishable standard. The corresponding author acknowledges great support from Prof. Issouf Soumare and the excellent academic environment at Laboratory for Financial Engineering at FSA, Laval University.

Author(s) contributions: All efforts of authors who contributed to this manuscript, especially the corresponding author are greatly acknowledged. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Funding: This work was partly funded by the Government of Uganda through Makerere University Research and Innovations Fund (Grant Number MAK-RIF/2).

Citation

Okello Candiya Bongomin, G., Yourougou, P., Balinda, R. and Baleke Yiga Lubega, J. (2024), "Customized financial literacy: a boon for universal financial inclusion of PWDs post COVID-19 pandemic in developing countries", Journal of Financial Regulation and Compliance, Vol. 32 No. 2, pp. 184-210. https://doi.org/10.1108/JFRC-07-2023-0109

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2024, Emerald Publishing Limited

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