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© 2022 International Monetary Fund
WP/22/140
IMF Working Paper
Monetary and Capital Markets Department
Women in Fintech: As Leaders and Users
Prepared by Purva Khera, Sumiko Ogawa, Ratna Sahay and Mahima Vasishth*
Authorized for distribution by Miguel Savastano
July 2022
IMF Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to encourage debate. The views expressed in IMF Working Papers are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF, its Executive Board, or IMF management.
ABSTRACT: While digital financial services have made access to finance easier, faster, and less costly, helping to broaden digital financial inclusion, its impact on gender gaps varies across countries. Moreover, women leaders in the fintech industry, although growing, remain scarce. This paper explores the interaction between ‘women’ and ‘fintech’ by examining: (i) the role of women leaders on firm-level performance in the fintech industry; and (ii) the determinants of gender gaps in the usage of digital services to better understand the cross-country differences. Results indicate that greater gender diversity in the executive board is associated with better performance of fintech firms. With regard to determinants of the gender gaps in the usage of digital financial services, we find that higher financial and digital literacy of women is associated with lower gender gaps in digital financial inclusion, and that socio-cultural factors also play a key role.
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| JEL Classification Numbers: | J16, L25, G53 |
| Keywords: | Firm Performance; Women Leaders; Digital Financial Inclusion; Financial Literacy; Digital Literacy |
| Author’s E-Mail Address: | PKhera@imf.org, SOgawa@imf.org, RSahay@imf.org, vasishth@uci.edu |
| JEL Classification Numbers: | J16, L25, G53 |
| Keywords: | Firm Performance; Women Leaders; Digital Financial Inclusion; Financial Literacy; Digital Literacy |
| Author’s E-Mail Address: | PKhera@imf.org, SOgawa@imf.org, RSahay@imf.org, vasishth@uci.edu |
Title Page
WORKING PAPERS
Women in Fintech:
As Leaders and Users
Prepared by Purva Khera, Sumiko Ogawa, Ratna Sahay and Mahima Vasishth
Contents
Section 1: Introduction
Section 2: Gender Gaps in Fintech Leadership
A. Data Source and Firm Characteristics
B. Gender Gaps in Leadership
C. Gender Gaps in Leadership and Firm performance
Section 3: Gender Gaps in Usage of Digital Financial Services
A. Data Source and Summary Statistics
B. Drivers of Gender Gap in Digital Financial Inclusion
Section 4: Conclusion and Policy Implications
References
FIGURES
1. Number of Firms Founded by Women
2. Number of Firms by Region
3. Average Fraction of Women on Executive Boards, by Time Period
4. Share of Women in Executive Boards, by Revenue Group
5. Share of Firms Founded by Women, by Revenue Group
6. Share of Women in Executive Boards, by Size
7. Share of Firms Founded by Women, by Size
8. Share of Women in Executive Boards, by Funding Range
9. Share of Firms Founded by Women, by Funding Range
10. Gender Gaps in Financial Inclusion
TABLES
1. OLS Regression: Outcome Variable – Revenue Range
2. OLS Regression: Outcome Variable – Funding Range
3. Summary Statistics
4. Random Effects Panel Regression Model
“1 “The author(s) would like to thank seminar participants at MCM Policy Forum (Jan 19. 2021) and CEBRA Annual Meeting 2021 for their suggestions.