Joseph Asukwo

Type of the article: Research Article

Abstract
Financial technology has become a top priority and a vital avenue for banking institutions seeking financial development and enhanced services. Financial technology is using a new digital transformation in the financial services industry. The study aims to investigate the dynamic effect of financial technology tools on financial development, examining both the long-run and short-run perspectives. The study used an ex-post facto research design because the data already existed and were retrieved from the Central Bank of Nigeria’s statistical bulletin. The Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model was employed to examine the impact of financial technology policy tools and financial development from the first quarter to the fourth quarter of 2013–2023. The long-run results revealed that financial technology positively impacted financial development, where a 1% increase in financial technology led to a 20.33% (p-value = 0.4123) increase in financial development, though statistically insignificant. In the short run, financial technology positively impacted financial development, where a 1% increase in financial technology led to a 6.57% (p-value = 0.0053) increase in financial development. The results showed a statistically significant relationship between biometric authentication devices, point of sale, web-based transactions, and mobile banking on money supply to gross domestic product in the short run, suggesting that financial technology drives financial development, enhancing access to financial services, and improving efficiency. Banks should continuously strengthen the adoption of financial technology tools that would promote banks’ efficiency.

Type of the article: Research article

Abstract
Interest rates facilitate credit flow in the economy, serve as a monetary transmission mechanism, and support banks in their role as financial intermediaries. Macroeconomic performance enhances people’s economic well-being and enables stable economic development. The study aims to examine the effects of Nigerian banks' interest rates on macroeconomic performance in both the long and short run. The study used a historical research design. The model was estimated using the Vector Error Correction Mechanism (VECM) approach. The results showed that the effect of interest rates on gross domestic product was significantly negative in the long run (C = –0.48985, t = –2.31238, p < 0.05), but not in the short run (p > 0.05). Interest rates exerted a negative, insignificant effect on savings in the long run (C = –0.01912, t = –0.73741, p > 0.05) and an insignificant effect in the short run (p > 0.05). Interest rates had a negative significant effect on gross fixed capital formation in the long run (C = –0.16559, t = –4.25940, p < 0.05) and insignificant effect in the short run (p > 0.05), while interest rates had a negative significant relationship with money supply in the long run (C = –0.05094, t = –2.10251, p < 0.05), and also significant in the short run (p < 0.05). Interest rate behavior is crucial for determining bank performance; therefore, banks should develop and deploy policy instruments to stabilize interest rates and encourage substantial investment.