Mobile Payment Applications in Countries with Low Financial Inclusion: A Multi-stakeholder Perspective Review

Abstract

Aims: Mobile payment apps have become the most used mobile payment system, especially in underbanked regions. It has come be the most viable way of promoting access to and use of quality financial services, at affordable cost. As far as review works on use/adoption of mobile payment apps in low financial inclusion countries go, presentation has been from users’ perspective. Thus, under-emphasizing the challenges of other members of the m-payment app ecosystem. The work aims at describing such general challenges from the lenses of users, regulators and merchants of mobile payment apps. Also, pros and cons of some specific mobile payment apps in these regions are also provided in the work. Place and Duration of Study: The review covered literature covering m-payment adoption in low financial inclusion countries i.e. Asian and African countries, spanning 2015 to 2023. Methodology: In selecting the literature, we considered only journal publications considering specifically m-payment apps, and written in English. To achieve a measure of spread, major regions in the two continents were considered, and journal articles focusing on a particular country were limited to two. Conclusion: We observe that the challenges of m-payment apps from users’ perspective are mostly denser than other perspectives. Users’ and regulators’ concerns converge only so thinly. Only regulators’ task of enlightenment of users/customer of about demonetization policies mirrors one of users’ concerns, perceived trust. Users and merchants are both concerned with perceived risk and perceived ease of use concerns. The challenges of regulators as regards m-payment apps are quite dissimilar to those of merchants. In all, the observed disparate (or thin similarity of) concerns of the different m-payment app stakeholders strengthens the need for such an inclusive review done in this work.