Financial Inclusion and Cybersecurity: The Role of Governance in Conflict States in Africa

Abstract Despite there being a large literature on the financial inclusion and cybersecurity nexus, surprisingly little is known about the effect of governance on this nexus. This study proposes to fill this gap in the literature by analyzing the influence of governance in the financial inclusion and cybersecurity nexus in fragile and post-conflict countries in Africa. Precisely, we examine whether the governance before and post-conflict matter for the financial inclusion and cybersecurity nexus and the contribution of cybersecurity governance strategies to successful Digital Financial Services (DFS) in post-conflict states. From comparative analysis we deduce the following outcomes: first, that Somalia has implemented most of the measures required for effective cybersecurity governance and this appears to have contributed to its thriving DFS. Second, that the DRC does not have most of the cybersecurity governance measures in place and unlike Somalia, DFS use in DRC is very low and not growing much.