Mobile Network Operators’ Agency Banking Quality, Financial Inclusion Practices and the Sustainable Development Goals: Evidence from Cameroon

Abstract

The Sustainable Development Goals were launched by the United Nations in 2015. Empirical evidence suggests that despite the excitement at their launching by the international community and other stakeholders, their attainment by enterprises is still poor. Thus, using the technology of agency banking and mediated by financial inclusion practices, this study sought to determine the role played by Telecommunication Companies (MNO) in the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals in Cameroon. To attain this objective, the study mobilized the Baron and Kenny (1986) model in the analysis of partial mediation effect using Ordinary Least Squares Regression. The purposive sampling technique was used to engage 1,420 users of MNOs’ services from the Cameroon’s 10 regional capitals in the study. The results showed that the effect of agency banking quality on Sustainable Development goals via the financial inclusion practices (Adjusted R2) is higher for the agents of Commercial banks and Micro, Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (MSMEs) than Microfinance Institutions. Thus, we suggest that Cameroon’s public authorities should focus more on Commercial banks and MSMEs than Microfinance Institutions to increase financial inclusion and ease the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals in Cameroon.