Effects of agent banking on financial inclusion in Uganda: a case study of SMEs in Nansana Masitowa

Abstract

Agent banking plays a big a big role on financial inclusion and many SMEs rely on agent banking to make deposits, withdraw cash, check bank statements, pay loans interests among others. The study aims to find out the effects of agent banking on financial inclusion a case study of SMES in Nansana Masitoowa. The study employed cross sectional descriptive survey using simple random sampling and purposive sampling technique that comprised of both probability and non probability sampling methods. The data was collected by means of structured questionnaires that were administered to 196 individuals that own and manage SMEs in Nansana Masitoowa that is supermarkets, boutiques and many others. The data was subjected to univariate, bivariate and multivariate analysis with the idea of SPSS. The findings of the study indicate that 76% of SMEs highly adopted and access agent banking activities because agents are cheaper to them than the main banks. The findings of the study revealed that most of the respondents have knowledge about agent banking services thus they have frequently used them or heard about them. The study recommended that more agent banking outlets should be opened to offer more services hence increase geographical coverage, security should be emphasized to all agent banking outlets to increase monitoring, terminated agency contracts should adopt strict procedures to avoid fraudulent activities on clients and financial institutions should carry out consumer education to help customers understand the operations on agents.