Obstacles to Digital Bank Service Expansion: Financial Inclusion in Developing Nations

Abstract

The article examines the essence and role of financial inclusion in ensuring developing countries’ economic and social development in the context of the digitalisation of banking services. Based on the methods of analysis and synthesis, as well as the use of financial inclusion indicators and mathematical tools, the article examines theoretical approaches to defining financial inclusion, its components and factors of influence, analyses methodological approaches to assessing financial inclusion, systematises indicators of its assessment with the allocation of two criteria (traditional inclusion and digital inclusion) based on the assessment of the population’s access to financial products. An instrumentation for assessing financial inclusion based on the calculation of the relevant index is proposed, which provides an assessment of its status at a certain point in time and development trends in a country, region or separate territory. The trends in the penetration and development of financial inclusion and their features in developing countries by parts of the world and levels of economic development are studied. The financial inclusion indices for individual countries representing different parts of the world and belonging to different categories by the level of per capita income for the period 2014–2022 were calculated and compared with the average Gini index, which allowed us to determine the mutual influence of financial inclusion not only with the level of economic development but also with the distribution of national wealth in countries. The features of the development of digital inclusion at the global level and in the context of groups of countries are studied, and the advantages and risks of digital banking development in modern conditions are systematised.