TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Kostov, Philip
AU  - Arun, Thankom Gopinath
AU  - Annim, Samuel
        TI  - Usage of Financial Services in South Africa: Perceptions Matter
        PY  - 2013/Oct/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 7687
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/index.php/publications/dp7687
        AB  - This study investigates the access to and usage of financial services in South Africa. Financial services are categorised in three types namely; general accounts and services, investment/savings and insurance/assurance. Taking into account the interactions between usage of different types of financial services, we use multivariate simultaneous probit specification to examine the effect of financial perception.
Our results suggests that after controlling for endogeneity of choices and a range of control variables, financial perceptions are robust determinant of access to financial services. The impact of financial perception however reduces and gradually disappears as one moves up the financial access ladder towards more advanced financial products and services. In a policy context, targeting demand-side factors to increase access to and use of financial services is advisable. This targeting however can only be successful if it is tuned to specific basic financial services and products.
        KW  - financial
KW  - perception
KW  - behaviour
KW  - general accounts
KW  - investment
KW  - insurance
KW  - South Africa
        ER  -