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This paper outlines an analytical framework for estimating households' access to formal credit across European transition economies shortly after the onset of the global financial crisis. This study, along with the individual-level socio-economic and demographic characteristics also considers the perceived quality of the institutions. The author wants to assess whether an adequate policy-level intervention to promote financial inclusion should account for the individuals' subjective evaluation of the political situation in their own country as well as their personal experience of corruption.

This paper identifies the main determinants of financial inclusion using European microdata (Life in Transition Survey II, LiTS II). In order to estimate individuals' access to formal financial markets, the author constructs a bivariate probit model to account for joint access to short-term and long-term credit products (Mohieldin and Wright, 2000).

The results show that improving people's access to financial markets across European regions requires a set of interventions at the institutional and local levels to link-up policies of financial inclusion and financial integrity.

The paper contributes to the existing literature by identifying a number of key causes of financial inclusion and the role of institutional (corruption crimes) factors in determining the levels of financial access in a country.

This study aims to comparatively measure the impact factors of financial inclusion and their spillover effects for Belt and Road countries using panel data from 57 countries in 2011, 2014, 2017 and 2021 and relevant indicators from three dimensions: availability, usage and quality to construct a digital empowerment index of financial inclusion.

A spatial Durbin panel model is constructed to empirically test the impact mechanism of financial inclusion under digital empowerment.

Results reveal that improving a country’s quality of regulation, technology and residents’ financial literacy significantly contributes to the development of its financial inclusion, while improving its neighboring countries’ financial literacy also boosts its financial inclusion development. This study provides theoretical support for evaluating the development level of inclusive finance in “Belt and Road” countries, promoting the development of inclusive finance and alleviating the problem of financial exclusion.

This study is original as it creates a research paradigm for “Belt and Road” countries, enabling systematic testing and comparative analysis of inclusive finance development. It incorporates traditional and digital services, evaluating them based on sharing, fairness, convenience and specific group benefits. An inclusive financial index is constructed using the coefficient of variation and arithmetic weighted average methods. Additionally, it introduces a more rational analysis approach for the influence mechanism and spatial effect, using an economic geography nested matrix and spatial Durbin model to explore spatial effects in inclusive finance.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) aims at upholding socio-economic condition of deprived communities prevailing in society as well as bringing profitability for corporate companies themselves. This study investigates to what extent the CSR initiatives of financial institutions in Bangladesh have been able to reach out to deprived communities and support various dimensions of financial inclusion (FI) in the country.

In this study, both supply-side and demand-side data are included and discussed rigorously as tools to cross-check the result. Both qualitative and quantitative data are incorporated, and graphs and tables are used to represent the critical information better. A triangulation of in-depth interviews with secondary data is used to ensure rigor and trustworthiness. The triangulation approach works as a method to verify secondary data by interviewees in this study.

The result shows a positive geographical and demographical penetration of CSR activities, but it does not necessarily bring FI in all cases. This study identifies some key issues that prevail in the current context of Bangladesh, such as usage, distance, quality and cost of financial products.

This study makes use of both supply-side and demand-side information and thus explain the reasons behind the involuntary exclusion of financial services.

This study aims to measure and further compare the countries in terms of the achievement in the degree of financial inclusion over the study period and between income groups considering 26 nations from Asia for the period 2013-2017.

While measuring the degree of financial inclusion, the study prepares an index using weighted arithmetic mean and the inverse of the Euclidean distance method. Further, comparison between the study period and between the income groups has been made using the dependent samples t-test as well as the Wilcoxon signed-rank test and independent samples t-test, respectively.

The study extends empirical insights by laying out the ranks for the countries considered for each of the study periods individually as well as in terms of mean financial inclusion scores for the study period. Further, comparison in terms of mean financial inclusion scores shows significant differences between the income groups, whereas the differences between the study periods turn out to be non-significant.

Less availability of intended variables over time restricts the predictive capability of sketching the phenomena in a true sense and claims further an exhaustive research to pursue in the future.

With the declining trend except for 2016-2017 in the achievement of financial inclusion scores over time, the study suggests emphasizing the initiatives targeted to include the excluded within the ambit of the formal financial system, which somehow seems unstable.

The novelty of the study lies in the portrayal of a measure that seems representative of the scale for development with deeper insight.

This paper aims to define a methodology to assess the impact of introducing Islamic finance on financial inclusion.

The paper is based on a literature review to understand the link between Islamic finance and financial inclusion. The second part of the paper presents a conceptual framework to assess the impact of introducing Islamic finance on financial inclusion in a defined context based on the profiling of people interested in Islamic finance.

The paper brings an insight on the impact of introducing Islamic finance. Indeed, it could cause a financial migration to Islamic banks that can take many forms and depends on many factors that call for deep analysis.

The paper would help financial authorities and financial institutions to measure the impact of introducing Islamic finance on their businesses and the stability of the whole system.

Islamic finance can not only enhance financial inclusion but also create financial migration. The two implications can vary from one context to another.

Islamic finance can contribute in the effort of including “self-excluded” people with religious concerns as well as people without access to financial services.

This paper promotes the idea that Islamic finance is not exclusively a way to enhance financial inclusion.

This study aims to empirically investigate the effect of digital currency development (digital finance) on financial inclusion in Nigeria for the period. Nigeria undertook her digital currency development to rip the benefits of financial inclusion, safer remittances and exchange rate regularization among others.

The researchers developed high-frequency quarterly data for the analysis from 2006:1 to 2020:4 in a weighted stepwise forward regression. A model similar to the one used by Demir et al. (2020) and Altunbas and Thornton (2019) with some modifications was developed.

Findings suggest that (1) a unit rise in the usage of automated teller machines by citizens spontaneously raised financial inclusion in a quarter in Nigeria by 0.012 units and were statistically significant; (2) a percentage rise in the use of point of sales transaction by citizens in the country also raised financial inclusion in Nigeria by approximately 1%; (3) a percentage increase by mobile payment users in Nigeria will spontaneously increase financial inclusion by at least 0.4%; (4) a percentage rise in web payment services reduces financial inclusion by 22% in Nigeria; (5) Cumulative positive effect of digital finances on financial inclusion in Nigeria was approximately 7%.

The researches show, using in-sample forecast, that while financial inclusion will grow in Nigeria, it will not be without systemic fluctuations. Based on the outcome, it is proposed that if the present digital currency penetration for the country is sustained at the present growth rate, the country may be more financially inclusive by 2% additionally by 2025 and 4% more by 2030.

Originally, it is found that digital currency development are positive derivatives for financial inclusion in Nigeria. Cumulatively, the effect of digital finances on financial inclusion in Nigeria is approximately 7% positive.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive overview of the geography of mortgage lending in Great Britain. It uses a new mortgage dataset as a way to shed light on the spatial distribution of mortgage finance and to highlight the different lending patterns of seven major UK banks. It also examines the relationship between the distribution of mortgage finance and socio-economic status at the local level.

The methodology is based on simple quantitative techniques, including spatial analysis, location quotient analysis and socio-economic classification. Lending data for Great Britain’s 10,000 postcode sectors are the basis for analysis here.

The results suggest that some banks lend significantly less than others in poorer areas, but, owing to a lack of data, it is not possible to say why. It is possible to identify banks that appear to change their lending patterns in areas with different socio-economic characteristics. The paper concludes by reflecting on key messages and by making a small number of recommendations to improve transparency in the sector.

In the absence of demand-side metrics, it is not possible to determine which banks lend disproportionately high or low amounts in poorer areas.

This paper has implications in relation to increasing financial transparency in the residential mortgage sector. The most important implication would be to highlight the fact that this new data – whilst a welcome development – is a long way from providing proper transparency in the mortgage lending sector.

This paper fills a gap in the international literature in relation to our understanding of the geography of mortgage lending in a major world economy. It also highlights important differential lending patterns in relation to socio-economic status at the sub-national level.

This paper examines the nexus between financial inclusion and the economic growth of an emerging market.

We use dataset from the World Bank and Heritage Foundations over the period 2005–2016 and fully modified least squares (FMOLS) and dynamic OLS (DOLS) to examine the financial inclusion–economic growth nexus in Ghana.

We document a negative relationship between financial inclusion and economic growth, and the causal nexus is unidirectional from financial access to GDP. Financial penetration, however, causes GDP growth, and GDP growth also causes financial penetration. We also document that IT infrastructure, the depth of financial services, employment and inflation drive economic growth in an emerging market.

The findings support international calls to prioritize financial penetration policies geared toward greater economic growth.

The paper adds to extant literature by highlighting new empirical insights on the financial inclusion–economic growth nexus from a sub-Saharan Africa market perspective.