Financial Exclusion in the Digital Payment Space

Somogyvári, Márta (2021) Financial Exclusion in the Digital Payment Space. FINANCIAL AND ECONOMIC REVIEW, 20 (4). pp. 65-85. ISSN 2415-9271 (print); 2415–928X (online)

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Abstract

The digitalisation of payment systems is accelerating and appears unstoppable. Today, we use mixed payment systems based on cash and digital money, but an increasing number of central banks are exploring the possibility of introducing central bank digital currency and full digitalisation. The greatest obstacle to this is not only the increase in the amount of cash in circulation, but also the situation of those social groups that do not use electronic payment methods and are excluded from financial services. There are several reasons for the latter, including economic and intellectual access difficulties, low levels of digital and financial literacy, banks’ business policies and difficulties in accessing digital infrastructure. Subsidising digital access and various educational training programmes can help reduce financial exclusion, but the most impactful solution may be developments that use artificial intelligence to replace face-to-face contact. This requires rapid, safe, transparent innovations that take into account the specific characteristics of the heterogeneous groups affected by financial exclusion.

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