The impact of financial technology on bank performance in Arabian countries

This study investigates the Millennials and Gen Z perception toward Fintech services, their usage intention, and their financial behavior. The study took place in the Palestinian context with a global comparison among these generations. The authors used the questionnaire-based technique to meet the study objective. West Bank respondents were selected for this purpose; the study instrument was distributed through different social media channels. The findings show that reliability/trust and ease of use are the main issues in using a financial service. Millennials are more aware (48%) of Fintech services than Gen Z (38%), which is different from the global view where Gen Z is the highest. The smartphone penetration rate is 100% among both generations, while the financial inclusion ratio in Palestine is around 36.4%; these clear indicators are the main Fintech drivers to promote Fintech services in Palestine, and these are global indicators for Fintech adoption intention. Both generations (84%) intend to use e-wallet services, Millennials (87%) and Gen Z is (70%) prefer using real-time services. Half of the respondents see that Fintech plays a complementary role with banks. The majority see that Fintech services are cheaper than bank services. Wealth management, and robot advisor services, and both generations are looking to acquire them in the long run. The authors revealed that 85% of respondents from both generations trust banks, so it is recommended that banks digitize their financial services to meet the customers’ needs, considering that 90% of respondents see that promotions are a key issue in adopting Fintech services. Promoting e-wallet services by banks is highly recommended due to the massive rivalry with Fintech parties.

Working capital management plays a pivotal role in enhancing the operational efficiency of firms and their ultimate profitability. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the trends in working capital management and its impact on the financial performance of listed manufacturing firms on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange (JSE). A panel data methodology was used with different regression estimators to analyze this relationship based on an unbalanced panel of 69 manufacturing firms listed during the period 2007–2016.
The findings revealed that the average collection period and the average payment period are negative and statistically significant for profitability, implying that firms which efficiently manage their accounts receivable and those that pay their creditors on time perform better than those that do not. Additionally, a positive statistically significant relationship between the number of days in inventory and profitability was supported suggesting that firms which stock-up and maintain their inventory levels suffer less from stock-outs and avoid challenges of securing financing when needed. This increases their operational efficiency and ensures profitability in the long run. It could not be ascertained whether a shorter or longer cash conversion cycle enhances firm profitability, since findings to support this premise were weak. However, it was observed that manufacturing firms are on average, carrying lot of debt in their capital structures.
The present study contributes to existing literature by presenting one of the very recent findings on this topic while simultaneously testing the validity of recent local and international methodologies, in order to inform policy change.

Industrial development in any nation plays a vital role in the strengthening of the economy and employs human resources as per specifications and directly towards the mainstream of the nation. In Saudi Arabia, there was rapid industrialization for four decades. Some manufacturing industries performed well, while some internal and external business environment factors influenced the others’ performance. The study focuses on historical development, as well as recent trends of well-performing and poor-performing industries of Saudi Arabia. Small manufacturing industries in Saudi Arabia are underdeveloped and need more attention to attain sustainable and progressive growth rate in the form of the number of establishments to enjoy the potential. Manufacture of tobacco, computer, electronics and optics, pharmaceuticals and transport equipment are the deprived and underdeveloped industries of the manufacturing sector. There should be some easy credit schemes for the development of deprived or underdeveloped manufacturing industries. To attain sustainable growth and development of the manufacturing sector, a positive attitude of the government towards underdeveloped manufacturing industries, favorable labor laws, and entrepreneurial awareness, technical and financial assistance are necessary. The growth and development of the manufacturing sector of Saudi Arabia will be helpful in the attainment of goals of Vision 2030.