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Introduction to the financial services in Africa special issue

Daniel Makina (Department of Finance, Risk Management and Banking, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa)

African Journal of Economic and Management Studies

ISSN: 2040-0705

Article publication date: 13 March 2017

881

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the landscape of financial services in Africa through the prism of a selection of research papers.

Design/methodology/approach

This is a review of literature that focusses on access to financial services (i.e. financial inclusion) and empirical findings from research papers in this issue of the journal.

Findings

The landscape of financial services in Africa is as heterogeneous as the countries comprising the continent. Common features include low levels of financial inclusion, low financial literacy, constrained access to credit, costly credit when available, gender discrimination in account ownership, and use and inefficient foreign exchange markets. Nevertheless, there are promising innovations, especially the mobile money innovation, which have the potential to foster more inclusive financial systems.

Originality/value

All the papers in this volume are based on original research shedding new insights on various aspects of financial services in Africa.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Previous versions of the papers in this volume were presented at the 5th International Conference on Financial Services, Port Elizabeth, South Africa from 29 September to 1 October 2015 organized by the University of South Africa.

Citation

Makina, D. (2017), "Introduction to the financial services in Africa special issue", African Journal of Economic and Management Studies, Vol. 8 No. 1, pp. 2-7. https://doi.org/10.1108/AJEMS-03-2017-149

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited

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