Introduction to the financial services in Africa special issue

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the landscape of financial services in Africa through the prism of a selection of research papers. Design/methodology/approach This is a review of literature that focusses on access to financial services (i.e. financial inclusion) and empirical findings from research papers in this issue of the journal. Findings The landscape of financial services in Africa is as heterogeneous as the countries comprising the continent. Common features include low levels of financial inclusion, low financial literacy, constrained access to credit, costly credit when available, gender discrimination in account ownership, and use and inefficient foreign exchange markets. Nevertheless, there are promising innovations, especially the mobile money innovation, which have the potential to foster more inclusive financial systems. Originality/value All the papers in this volume are based on original research shedding new insights on various aspects of financial services in Africa.