The effect of mobile money on savings behaviors of the financially excluded

This study investigates whether the use of mobile money affects the savings patterns of individuals that are vulnerable to financial exclusion, that is, the low-income earners, low-educated, women and rural habitants. Studying the case of Kenya, this study uses data from the 2016 FinAccess Household Survey (N=8,665) that was designed to track and measure the drivers, growth and impact of mobile money use in Kenya. Logistic model and the 2SLS IV regression are used as the empirical estimation method for testing the statistical significance of the correlation between mobile money usage and the savings behaviors of the individuals. The results show that users of mobile money are 1.96 more likely to have a savings product than those that do not use mobile money, and that the propensity for users of mobile money to save for emergencies and for future events is 1.44 and 1.27 times higher, respectively, as compared to the non-users. These findings suggest that individuals that use mobile money perceive it as a trustworthy, efficient and reliable store of value especially making savings for future use. This analysis also finds statistically significant evidence suggesting that mobile money use significantly increases the propensity to save for individuals in demographic groups that are more susceptible to the unique challenges that lower accessibility to formal financial services. Therefore, by increasing the probability of individuals in the female, low income, low education and rural groups to save, mobile money fosters financial inclusion which is essential in the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals such as reducing poverty, increasing equality and sustained economic growth among others. In general, this study has specific policy implications for using mobile money as a device for increasing financial inclusion among the ‘unbanked’ population