School of Management, Universiti Sains Malaysia, George Town, Malaysia.
PLoS One. 2024 Aug 20;19(8):e0309099. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0309099. eCollection 2024.
The use of digital technology by banks and other financial institutions to facilitate financial inclusion is referred to as digital financial inclusion. This fusion of digital finance and traditional banking methods has the potential to impact banks' operational effectiveness. This study uses the panel effects model to examine the link between digital financial inclusion and bank performance in 30 Chinese provinces from 2012 to 2021. This research uses kernel density estimation to examine the spatial-temporal growth patterns of both variables. The mediator variable in examining how digital financial inclusion affects bank performance is risk-taking. Finally, the paper analyses the regional heterogeneity of the impact. It presents the following conclusions: (1) In China, digital financial inclusion and bank performance have constantly increased, with noticeable regional variances in their development levels. This regional inequality has widened gradually since 2018, yet it has not resulted in polarization. (2) The significant positive correlation between digital inclusive finance and banking performance indicates that banking performance tends to increase with the enhancement of digital inclusive finance. (3) Digital financial inclusion impacts bank performance, with risk-taking as a moderator. The spread of digital financial inclusion services enhances banks' willingness to take risks, enhancing overall efficiency. (4) Digital financial inclusion boosts bank performance in the Northwest, South, North, and East regions while lightly inhibiting it in the Central region. Based on the findings, this study makes bank and government suggestions.
数字技术在银行和其他金融机构中的应用，促进了金融包容，这被称为数字金融包容。数字金融与传统银行方法的融合，有可能影响银行的运营效率。本研究使用面板效应模型，检验了 2012 年至 2021 年中国 30 个省份数字金融包容与银行绩效之间的关系。本研究使用核密度估计来检验这两个变量的时空增长模式。在检验数字金融包容如何影响银行绩效的过程中，风险承担是一个中介变量。最后，本文分析了影响的区域异质性。研究得出以下结论：（1）在中国，数字金融包容和银行绩效一直在不断提高，其发展水平存在明显的区域差异。自 2018 年以来，这种区域不平等逐渐扩大，但没有导致两极分化。（2）数字包容性金融与银行绩效之间的显著正相关关系表明，随着数字包容性金融的增强，银行绩效往往会提高。（3）数字金融包容通过风险承担来影响银行绩效，风险承担是一个调节变量。数字金融包容服务的普及提高了银行承担风险的意愿，从而提高了整体效率。（4）数字金融包容促进了西北地区、南部地区、北部地区和东部地区的银行绩效，而对中部地区的银行绩效则略有抑制。基于这些发现，本研究为银行和政府提出了建议。
