FinTech and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from Electronic Payment Systems

Tut, Daniel (2020): FinTech and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from Electronic Payment Systems.

Abstract

This paper investigates the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on financial institutions and consumers’ adoption of FinTech in payments. We find [1] The covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the adoption of FinTech platforms in payments. We document an approximate increase of 54% in mobile banking transactions, an increase of 19.56% in Mobile agents and an increase of 14.56% in Mobile banking accounts [2] The use of all electronic payment cards has significantly declined during the pandemic. [3] The pandemic has magnified interbank contagion and liquidity risks and has reduced both domestic and international electronic fund transfers via both the Real-Gross Settlement system (RTGS) and via Clearing house (ACH).Overall, our results shows that FinTech not only alleviated the negative impact of theCovid-19 pandemic during Q1 but that the pandemic has also accelerated consumers’ adoption of FinTech platforms and digital onboarding specially in Q3 and Q4.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Covid-19, Coronavirus, Fintech, Mobile Payment, Central Banks, Financial Intermediaries, Financial Technologies, Banks, Interbank transfers, Diaspora Remittances, Settlement and Liquidity risks, clearing houses, financial stability, Pandemic, M-PESA, Digital Banking.
• Subjects: E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E3 - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles > E32 - Business Fluctuations ; Cycles; E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E5 - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit > E52 - Monetary Policy; E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E5 - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit > E58 - Central Banks and Their Policies

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