Document Type

Article

Publication Date

10-17-2017

Abstract

We study the determinants of mobile banking adoption, with a special interest on how mobile banking can increase access to financial services among racial and ethnic minorities in the United States. In our analysis, we use survey data from two different sources: 1) Survey of Consumers' Use of Mobile Financial Services (SCUMFS) We conduct a regression analysis and Oaxaca Decomposition to determine the explanatory factors of racial and ethnic gaps in bank account ownership. We find that minorities are less likely to use mobile banking than Whites in the NSUUH, but more likely to adopt mobile banking according to SCUMFS, after controlling for individual characteristics. When we restrict our sample to only individuals with a bank account in the NSUUH, we no longer observe differences in mobile banking usage between Whites and Hispanics. We find that age is a major factor explaining the gap in mobile banking usage among Whites and Hispanics, and that education and income reduce this gap in both datasets.

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