Research On The Effect Of Information And Communication Technology On Financial Inclusion Development In China

Due to factors of economic development,geography location,financial service cost and so on,China's financial development level has been low and uneven for a long time.Part of the population has been excluded to the edge of financial services.The phenomenon of financial exclusion is very grim.In recent years,countries around the world attach great importance to the issue of financial exclusion.The United Nations,World Bank and other institutions have put forward the concept of "Financial inclusion " successively,in order to eliminate financial exclusion and provide affordable financial services for all social classes.China has also incorporated the development of financial inclusion intonational strategy in 2016.Meanwhile,with the development of information and communication technology(ICT),the popularity of mobile phones and the Internet is getting higher and higher.At present,almost all of our residents have mobile phones,and surfing the Internet has become easier and easier.At the same time,information and communication technology continues to penetrate into the financial industry,and the two have been increasingly integrated.Now information and communication technology has become an indispensable condition for financial development,and a series of financial innovations come into being."Internet Finance" is exactly a typical representative of financial innovation.These new types of financial services well meet different financial needs,because of the convenience of use and low entry barriers.Thus they are very popular among different groups of people,and also provide important channels and opportunities for the development of financial inclusion.Based on the reality above,this paper explores the mechanism,channel and degree of information and communication technology's influence on the development of finance inclusion from theoretical and empirical aspects respectively.And based on the analysis of China's current state,this paper gives relevant policies to improve the level of China's financial inclusion.In the part of theoretical analysis,this paper analyzes the relationship between ICT,Internet finance and financial inclusion and explores the way of ICT on the development of financial inclusion by using financial innovation theory,Internet finance theory and financial development theory.This paper links ICT with financial inclusion by financial innovation,and find that ICT promotes the emergence of Internet finance through its applying to financial industry and the triggering of financial innovation.And Internet finance is not only a transformation to the traditional financial industry but also compatible with the development of financial inclusion.At the same time,this paper argues that ICT plays a role in the development of financial inclusion through providing infrastructure,increasing the usability of financial services and improving the sustainability of financial services.In the part of empirical analysis,this paper first constructs two comprehensive indexes,which can more fully reflect the state of information and communication technology development and financial inclusion development.One is information development index,the other one is financial inclusion index.Then the two indexes were used as the main explanatory variables in the regression analysis.Based on ten years inter-provincial panel data,this paper finds that information and communication technology can significantly affect the development of financial inclusion.And further analysis finds that information and communication infrastructure,information and communication utilization,knowledge and skills can all significantly promote the development of financial inclusion.Among them,the number of Internet users,broadband users and adult literacy rate can most improve the level of financial inclusion.Finally,according to the conclusion of this paper,it is proposed to promote the development of financial inclusion through three aspects.One is to improve the infrastructure of information and communication;the second is to promote the integration and innovation of ICT on financial industry;the third is to enhance knowledge and skills of residents.