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This study aims to examine factors influencing potential customers’ intention to patronize Islamic banking products in Cameroon.

To achieve this, a structured questionnaire was used with 318 respondents, and 300 were usable for analysis with a respondent rate of 94%. The study used SEM-PLS to analyze the data.

The findings suggested that attitude, religious motivation, awareness, subjective norm and relative advantage significantly affect potential customers intention toward Islamic banking products, while perceived regulatory and perceived innovation are insignificant. Furthermore, attitude substantially mediates the relationship between religious motivation, awareness, subjective norm, relative advantage and perceived innovation.

However, this study focused on potential customers living in Muslim zones; future research should compare users and nonusers of Islamic banking products in both Muslim and non-Muslim zones to capture a big picture about customers’ perceptions of Islamic banking products in Cameroon.

The results of this study contribute to the literature by providing a new framework that combines the theories of planned behavior and diffusion of innovation theory and provides managerial implications at the level of Islamic finance operators. Meanwhile, this research offers some policy recommendations that can help boost the development of Islamic finance in Cameroon and promote financial inclusion.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first research about potential customers’ intention to use Islamic banking products in Cameroon.

This study examined the impact of digital finance on SME financial inclusion in Africa.

The study obtained data from the International Monetary Fund's Financial Access Survey and World Development Indicators covering the period from 2011 to 2022. Heteroskedastic panels corrected standard errors (HPCSE) and feasible generalized least squares regressions were employed in the analysis.

The findings indicate that digital finance (volume and intensity) significantly improves SME financial inclusion in Africa.

Due to the paucity of data, the study covered only 17 African countries over 12 years (2011–2022).

The findings imply the need for African central banks and other relevant regulatory bodies to establish effective regulations mandating Deposit Money Banks and other financial institutions to operate agent banking. This would facilitate access to financial services for SME owners. Such measures could financially include more unbanked SME owners, especially those in rural areas. Moreover, these initiatives must be strongly supported by introducing user-friendly digital financial technologies and registering more financial technology (fintech) companies.

Implementing necessary measures to enhance access to digital financial services for SMEs in Africa is likely to reduce unemployment and poverty and contribute to the economic growth and development of the region.

This study provides empirical evidence showing how digital finance affects SME financial inclusion in Africa.

After the financial crisis of 2007–2008, the financial service industry realized that the world’s worst financial catastrophe had been caused by an age of easy money and lax monitoring. This realization led to pressure on regulators to overhaul the financial system during the Great Depression. Banks were required to make sure they implemented a variety of endogenous risk-minimization mechanisms and assume accountability for verifying the stability of the financial scheme. Innovative financial technology (FinTech) solutions arose in this more regulated environment to address – or, as one would argue, avoid – risks that arose during the financial crisis. The goal of this chapter is to examine the possible challenges and opportunities of incorporating FinTech into Islamic finance. Four services are provided by Islamic FinTech: finance, payments, advisory, and compliance. The traditional financial system is being recolonized by Islamic FinTech. FinTech adoption in Islamic finance could lead to greater financial inclusion, the solution to emergencies like COVID-19, and the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for a sustainable national economy. However, there could be obstacles associated with this acceptance in the form of risk, investment, and regulatory issues. In order for FinTech companies to be innovative and address social issues that conventional financial institutions fail to address, authorities must provide a market whereby these companies can thrive without having to be acquired by major banks or focus their innovation solely on meeting the demands of these banks. Furthermore, they need to be explicit about the regulations' applicability to FinTech companies, especially with regard to how to strike a balance between being a technology company and a financial institution.

Over the past three decades, financial deregulation and various reforms have significantly transformed the competitive environment for banks in Indonesia. These changes have introduced new challenges for banks to retain their market power and ensure their survival. In light of this, the article aims to assess the current levels of market power held by Indonesian banks and explore the factors that influence it.

The paper measured the degree of market power and identified its impacting factors for 22 listed commercial banks using the Adjusted Lerner Index (ALI) and appropriate regression technique over a period of 2011–2023.

The empirical findings reveal that banks in Indonesia enjoy high market power, and factors such as capitalization, diversification, operational inefficiency, asset quality and GDP growth rate significantly impact banks’ market power. Additionally, the findings contradict the structure-conduct-performance paradigm, which advocates that a concentrated banking system impairs competition.

The study suggests that regulatory authorities should closely monitor the market power levels and promote strategies to enhance competition within the banking sector. Additionally, banks should prioritize implementing measures to reduce operational costs and improve the quality of assets.

This research represents one of the early attempts to gauge the market power of publicly listed conventional commercial banks in Indonesia by employing the Adjusted Lerner Index. Additionally, it introduces “technology adoption” as a novel variable to the analysis alongside other established variables.