Time: 13:00-15:00 (UK Time), Wednesday, 9 March 2022
Presenter: Prof. Victor Murinde, Centre for Global Finance, SOAS University of London
Co-authors: Dr. Désiré Kanga, International Monetary Fund, USA; Prof. Lemma Senbet, University of Maryland, USA; Issouf Soumaré, Department of Finance, Insurance and Real Estate & Laboratory for Financial Engineering, Laval University, Canada.
Chair: Prof. Victor Murinde, SOAS University of London
Online venue: Click here to join the seminar on Microsoft Teams (For any inquiry about how to join the online seminar, please contact Dr Meng Xie: xm1@soas.ac.uk)

Abstract
We invoke theory and innovative econometric techniques to investigate how the rise of Pan-African cross-border banks is shaping the level of bank competition in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), and the ultimate financial inclusion impact in terms of firms’ access to bank finance. We use hand-collected bank level data from all WAEMU countries and firm level data from the World Bank Enterprise Survey, various years. We uncover interesting new evidence that the presence of pan-African banks in the WAEMU enhances banking sector competition. Also, we find that cross-border banks are associated with improvements in firms’ access to bank finance. Our findings are robust to alternative empirical specifications and measurement of key variables.