BARRIERS AND FACILITATORS IN ADOPTION OF DIGITAL FINANCIAL SERVICES IN PAKISTAN: AN EMERGING ROLE OF FINTECHS

Abstract

The financial industry has changed in the last decade and the mode of services is ever changing. Technology has played a vital role in the evolution of financial services. Technology is the cost-effective and efficient way to boost and support the economic demands of any country and more specifically of any industry. Therefore, the financial sector has also adopted modern technologies to serve the customers better and fulfill the desired needs of the country. In this regard, financial services are in the process of digitization in Pakistan. However, there is an issue of adaptation of these digital financial services in Pakistan. Therefore, this research was conducted to explore the barriers and facilitators in the adoption of digital financial services in Pakistan. The research has used interviews as a data collection method to collect data from respondents. Thematic analyses were done on the collected data to conclude. The results concluded that one of the biggest barriers to the adoption of digital financial services is a lack of trust. Customers believe their information is no more sec because of the introduction of technology in financial services. On the other side, one of the key reasons that people use this service is that the financial services are available to the customer anytime, anywhere. However, there is room for improvement, service providers can work on reducing the barriers so that more and more people use digital financial services.

Keywords: Digital Financial Services, FinTech, Digital facilitators, Digital Banking, Financial literacy, financial wellbeing.