The purpose of this study was to explore the role of microfinance in the Sekhukhune District, Limpopo Province. The Hulme’s Impact Framework and the Capabilities Approach were used to understand the role of microfinance. A qualitative approach was used to gain an insight into the perspective of both the beneficiaries and the providers of microfinance. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect in-depth data from 30 participants from two developmental Microfinance Institutions operating in the Sekhukhune District. The results showed that Microfinance offered a variety of services, such as savings, small loans as well as business and health education, mainly to women who were interested in doing business. Loan eligibility for the institutions depended on both the ability to pay back and to save. Failure to pay back resulted in being excluded from the programme. Although loans were meant for business purpose, some clients found a way to use them for income smoothening and loan repayment. Overall, the results indicate that microfinance was used to supplement other government poverty-eradication tools such as monthly grants to the elderly and children. Moreover, microfinance is perceived by both beneficiaries and providers to bring about both economic and social capabilities. It was also revealed that, even though microfinance has some benefits, there are still some challenges faced in the industry. Beneficiaries perceived the interest rate to be satisfactory microfinance. However, the interest rates charged by the Microfinance Institutions is higher than what is charged by commercial banks. In the quest to cover operational costs, such interest rates that have left some of the poor in an unending cycle of poverty. Based on the findings, this study recommends that, the government should come up with other intervention strategies in addition to supplement microfinance. For instance, to help micro-entrepreneurs, the government could assist by building smaller shops to rent out to micro-entrepreneurs they could sell their goods. In addition, the government should build financial systems that work for the poor; create legal systems which that encourage market entry. / Economics / M. Com. (Economics)

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[pt] Esta pesquisa teve como objetivo investigar os principais fatores que influenciam a adoção e uso de tecnologias no setor de serviços, mais especificadamente no setor de serviços financeiros. O arcabouço teórico permitiu a definição de construtos cognitivos e afetivos para a elaboração do modelo conceitual. Além disso, este modelo incluiu construtos de elevada importância para o consumo de serviços financeiros, como Confiança e Risco Percebido. Por fim, o construto de Prontidão para a Tecnologia, desenvolvido por Parasuraman e Colby (2014) foi adicionado ao modelo, a fim de analisar a influência da predisposição individual em relação às tecnologias em geral, enquanto antecedente dos demais construtos. Os dados da pesquisa foram obtidos por meio de uma survey online, que foi respondida por 402 estudantes ou recém-formados de cursos de graduação e pós-graduação. O modelo final da pesquisa, denominado Modelo de Prontidão e Aceitação de Mobile Payments, indicou que a Prontidão para a Tecnologia exerce maior influência sobre os aspectos cognitivos do que sobre os afetivos, indicando que a prontidão auxilia significativamente o processo racional de avaliação da tecnologia. Além disso, os resultados indicaram que o construto de Utilidades e Vantagens Percebidas exerceu a maior influência sobre a Atitude, seguido pela Confiança e pela Apreciação da Qualidade Percebida, confirmando que os aspectos cognitivos são predominantes no processo de decisão quanto ao uso de serviços financeiros. Por fim, o Risco Percebido apresentou uma influência negativa, mas de pequena magnitude, sobre a Intenção de Uso. O Modelo de Prontidão e Aceitação de Mobile Payments foi capaz de explicar cerca de 76 porcento da Atitude e 68 porcento da Intenção em relação ao uso de tecnologias, mostrando-se um modelo com boa capacidade preditiva e de contribuição relevante para a literatura de aceitação de tecnologias. / [en] This research aimed to investigate what factors influence the adoption and use of technologies in services, more specifically in the financial services sector. The theoretical framework allowed the definition of cognitive and affective constructs for the preparation of the conceptual model. Furthermore, this model also includes constructs with high relevance for consumption of financial services, like Trust and Perceived Risk. Finally, the Technology Readiness construct, developed by Parasuraman and Colby (2014), was added to the model in order to analyze the influence of individual predisposition in relation to technology in general, as an antecedent of the other constructs. Data was collected via an online survey, which was answered by 402 students or recent graduated of graduate and post-graduate courses. The final model, named Model of Readiness and Acceptance of Mobile Payments, indicated that the Readiness Technology has stronger effects on cognitive aspects than on the affective aspects, indicating that readiness significantly assists the rational evaluation process about the use of technologies. Furthermore, the results indicated that the Perceived Usefulness and Advantage construct has the strongest effect over Attitude, followed by Trust and by Enjoyment of Perceived Quality, confirming that the cognitive aspects are predominant in decision-making regarding the use of financial services. Finally, Perceived Risk had a negative but very little effect over Intention. The Model of Readiness and Acceptance of Mobile Payments was able to explain about 76 percent of Attitude and 68 percent of Intention, showing itself a model with good predictive capability and presenting significant contribution to the literature of acceptance of technologies.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / The Fourth Industrial Revolution has provided new opportunities to tackle problems in health, education, transport and many other sectors. In the financial sector, new financial technology (FinTech) is providing new ways of tackling the problem of financial exclusion. The uptake of cell phones has enabled financial service providers (FSPs) to expand into areas where the most vulnerable have hitherto been outside the reach of the banking agency model. This has ultimately allowed previously financially excluded individuals to have access to bank accounts. Through SMACT (Social Media, Mobile, Analytics, Cloud and the Internet of Things) technologies, FSPs are able to collect new types of data such as call detail record data and mobile app data which have been leveraged globally to enable the emergence of M-Pesa in Kenya, the WeChat payments module in China and KakaoBank, South Korea’s first online-only bank. The common thread in these innovations is that these are telecommunications company-led business models that have encroached into the area of finance. Such digital disruption has happened in South Africa but little is understood about how inclusive digital financial services are in the South African context. Moreover, what are the barriers to further financial inclusion, given that South Africa has significantly high bank account uptake rates? What role can the Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies have in breaking those barriers and reaching the lower-income population that has largely been mis-sold financial products that were created for the middle to upper-income population? This study sought to investigate how the diffusion of SMACT technology has contributed to financial inclusion in the South African financial services sector. The study made use of a mixed methods approach to answer this research question. Finscope data from 2012 to 2015 was used as the data source for the quantitative section and key informant interviews as the source of data for the qualitative section. The study found that roughly 80% of adults in South Africa are financially included through formal banks. Despite the near 100% uptake rates of cell phones across all income groups, proximity to an ATM or bank branch still significantly determined whether an individual accessed formal financial services. The study also found that ATM withdrawal, store withdrawal and internet banking were infrequently utilised by lower-income adults. In terms of internet banking and digital financial services in general, financial products, especially digital credit, do not appear to be well aligned with the needs of the lower-income consumer. The mismatch of financial products and the needs of lower-income consumers is further worsened by poor financial literacy levels in South Africa, especially among lower-income consumers. The study concludes that more needs to be done to increase economic inclusion, digital inclusion and financial inclusion for the lower-income population in South Africa. While consumer protection and transparency are well covered in the regulatory and legislative framework to which FSPs by and large adhere, a more inclusive and sustainable financial sector will only exist if product fit, affordability, financial literacy and convenience issues are addressed. This should happen in an enabling environment where ICT infrastructure benefits all, interoperability of digital financial services is reached and a regulatory framework more focused on financial inclusion is in place.

Increased life expectancies and a significant reduction in the number of corporate pension plans nationwide have made the prospects of retirement a challenge for many of us. The burden of funding retirement will move from the corporation or government to the individual. Those individuals with limited financial experience will most likely need the guidance of a financial advisor. Can we trust and rely upon them? Following the 2004 late trading scandal and the 2008 financial meltdown, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority ("FINRA") implemented Continuing Education requirements at the advisor level. The intent was to improve the quality and integrity of advisors' interaction with clients. I have interviewed forty-one advisors at four separate financial services firms to examine the impact of this training on the moral obligations and responsibilities of financial advisors.

In the Cayman Islands, one is raised to be the managers of someone else’s financial empire; the empire of the United Kingdom to be precise. Historically, whenever there are whispers about political independence among the population, they are abruptly quieted by a chorus of familiar rhetoric that attributes the success of business and tourism industries on island to its administrative financial connection to the United Kingdom. In a colony where most people rarely think of themselves as colonized, to the majority of Caymanians there is nothing improper about this relationship, it is simply the way things have been. On the few occasions where there is sustained conversation on the topic of political independence, like clockwork, the dialogue often takes a decidedly anti-Jamaican and anti-black tone that positions the so-called socioeconomic “struggles” of Jamaica as a cautionary tale on the perils of political independence. Perils that are then juxtaposed with the so-called socioeconomic success of Cayman which are framed as the prosperity of political dependency. It is this enduring conversation that warrants further interrogation; how and why African descended persons are actively choosing to not be self-determining. Much of the current literature interrogates the colonial presence in the Caribbean in a historical context. However, my interest is in how modern-day manifestations of colonialism (economic, cultural) impacted understandings of agency and freedom? Moreover, Caribbean scholarly discourses on colonialism tend to situate it in the past, instead a present, ongoing reality in the region today. This project centers Caymanians and their understanding of their own humanity outside of what they provide to others. My work seeks to disrupt the concept of ‘Paradise’ in the Caribbean; a concept evoked in order to provide leisure for tourists (mostly originating from North America and Western Europe) and make the financial management of the wealth of the ruling elite from the same places as those tourists desirable. This research interrogates a humanity that is agentic, self-conscious, and decolonial. / African American Studies

The combined environmental effects of technological change, increasing competition, new legislation and increasingly demanding consumers have created pressure within the financial services industry for change. One outcome has been a proliferation of new products in the marketplace. This research explores new product development within one subset of this industry -- building societies. By combining the new product development, service marketing and financial services literature, a foundation has been developed for an empirical study into the development practices and the characteristics of successful and unsuccessful new products. The determinants of success and failure for new product development have been examined utilizing a comparative methodology, and subsequently a discriminant model has been developed that successfully classifies successful and unsuccessful new products. By determining how new products are actually developed, the findings support previous claims that intangibility, inseparability, heterogeneity and perishability do have an effect on the development process. Further, the level of sophistication of the development activities is lower than in previously reported research. Notable variations from the development process for tangible new products are the inclusion of system design, system testing and personnel training stages. The majority of societies have been found to lack strategic integration of the development process, to apply different measures of success and to prefer qualitative market research techniques over quantitative approaches. As well, considerable variation exists in the organizational approaches used to manage the process, although organizational related variables were found to have a strong impact upon the predictability of a successful outcome for a new product.

This research study provides a view of the relationship between organizational leaders and relationship executives of financial institutions and their exchange partners. It does so by analyzing data on the networking efforts of 20 executive directors in qualitative interviews and 124 relationship executives in research questionnaires. Network marketing within the financial services sector is becoming increasingly important. We proposed a model that seeks to offer an explanation of Executive network marketing in financial institutions in LDCs where the market system is underdeveloped. The proposed model identified four categories being: firm characteristics, Executives’ personal contact groups, Executives’ business contact groups and issues of commitment and trust in exchange relationships. Multiple factor analysis established the regression model as significant in establishing a formal relationship between the dependent variable (network marketing) and the independent variables (firm characteristics, business contact, personal contact and commitment and trust). It was confirmed that there are differences in Executives’ level of network marketing among the different age groups. Also there were significant differences in the network marketing of the Executives with regard to their level of education. It was observed that there were significant differences in the network marketing of the Executives with respect of their fields of study. Finally it was observed that owner managers were more involved in network marketing than the professional managers and those in partnerships. Not only did the study confirm the research model, but it also revealed that, to a considerable extent, network marketing is practiced by the Executives in the financial services sector in Ghana. The study concluded that business contact networks are the most effective of the Executives’ network marketing in financial services sector in Ghana. It is therefore important that state policies are directed towards enhancing the business environment within the financial services sector. Government should desist from being a regulator and a player in the same market.

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