FinTechs and financial inclusion—Balkan experience: Digital perspectives on financial markets

Abstract

The article aims to identify the stage of development of Fintech in the Balkan countries given the existence of numerous influencing factors Fintech is present in the Balkan countries, with a landscape colorfully generated by the different factors as the involvement of public authorities, the EU membership of only a few countries, the level of financial and digital education of the population. In order to highlight the variables influencing Fintech and financial inclusion in selected countries, specific indicators were used—internet usage and the share of bank assets in GDP, and several indicators regarding individuals performance, that is, online shopping, paid bills via internet, accessed a bank account online, paid utility bills using a mobile phone, made or received digital payments, account ownership and debit card ownership. The sample consists of all eight Balkan countries: Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia, Bulgaria, and Romania. For testing the hypothesis in the analysis are used: descriptives, ANOVA, cluster analysis and principal components analysis. The results demonstrated that Balkan countries are not homogenous regarding Fintech and financial inclusion, the differences being generated both by the public policies in the financial field but also by IT development and by the population openness for using the new financial services and products. For these reasons, the authors identified economic policy measures that can be applied to increase financial inclusion in these countries given the facilities offered by Fintech and the digitization of financial products.