Fintech and financial inclusion: micro-level evidence on access, usage, and demographic disparities across 160 countries

Using individual-level data from the Global Findex surveys spanning 2011 to 2021, we explore the impact of financial technologies on financial inclusion. Our findings reveal an economically and statistically significant relationship between fintech use and financial inclusion. On average, fintech use increases the probability of owning a formal financial account by 16.5 percentage points, holding other factors constant. This effect is similar across males and females and across different income levels, while it is stronger for younger individuals, aged 50 or lower. We further demonstrate that fintech use helps overcome key barriers to financial inclusion, including distance
to financial institutions, perceived costs of financial services, lack of trust in financial institutions, and lack of documentation. These findings are robust to alternative empirical specifications, including fixed effects regressions and propensity score matching.