Financial Inclusion Redefined: The Malaysian Experience with Crowdfunding and Fintech
- 14 Jul 2025
- Published Resarch - Business
| Researchers | Ibrahim Alnafrah, Sulaiman Mouselli and Nedaa Shhadah |
| Published in | From Digital Disruption to Dominance, Leveraging FinTech Applications for Sustainable Growth, (book series: Technological Innovation and Sustainability for Business Competitive Advantage), Chapter 8, pp. 187 - 208, March 2025. |
| Abstract | This study investigates the impact of crowdfunding on financial inclusion in Malaysia, focusing on equity crowdfunding (ECF) and peer-to-peer (P2P) financing. Using monthly data from January 2019 to May 2023, we construct a financial inclusion index and employ autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) and wavelet coherence methodologies to analyse short-term, long-term and time-frequency relationships. Our findings reveal that P2P financing and broad market price significantly enhance financial inclusion in the long run while ECF and initial public offerings (IPOs) have a modest positive impact. The results of short-term dynamics indicate complex relationships, with immediate positive effects from ECF and IPOs, but initial adjustments required for P2P financing. Additionally, wavelet analysis demonstrates varying cyclical behaviours and temporal relationships between crowdfunding activities and financial inclusion, particularly influenced by economic shocks such as the COVID-19 pandemic. These results provide valuable insights for policymakers and Fintech innovators in leveraging crowdfunding to promote financial inclusion in emerging economies. Keywords: Crowdfunding; financial inclusion; Fintech; equity crowdfunding; peer-to-peer (P2P) lending; Malaysia. |
| Link to abstract |
