Financial Technology Services, Government Regulations and Financial Inclusion of Small-Scale Fish Farmers in Homa Bay County, Kenya

Abstract

This study explored the impact of FinTech and Government Policies on Financial Inclusion for small-scale fish farmers in Homa Bay County, Kenya. The study focused on how access to finance has been widened through agency banking, mobile money and online banking services among these people who had low incomes or were marginalized. The research also examined whether government regulations affect the relationship between fintech channels and financial inclusion. The study was underpinned by Innovation Diffusion Theory, Financial Intermediation Theory, Technology Acceptance Theory and Public Interest Regulation Theory. This study employed causal research design with a sample size of 495 small scale fish farmers using stratified random sampling technique that yielded 144 respondents. Data analysis involved multiple regression, correlation analysis and diagnostic tests that utilized SPSS 26.0 for data analysis. The results showed that agency banking; mobile money services and online banking together explained 58.1% of variation in financial inclusion among the farmers indicated by R squared of 0.581.The findings revealed that Agency Banking had significant effect on financial inclusion (β = .231, p = .001 < .05), as well as Mobile Money Services (β = .196, p = .019 < .05) and Online Banking Services (β = .410, p = .000 < .05). Therefore, the study concludes that Agency Banking; Mobile Money and Online Banking play important role in enhancing financial autonomy among small scale fish farming communities through increased access to bank accounts, secured transactions processes and agent incomes respectively. In view of the findings, the study recommends that financial institutions together with fintech companies should invest in platforms which are user-friendly safe secure meant for use by small holder dairy farmers themselves. Keywords: Agency banking, Mobile money services, Online banking services, Government regulations, Financial technology services, Financial inclusion