The impact of digital banking services on saving and borrowing behavior: The case of Turkey

When an individual makes personal savings, he not only gains financial security but also contributes to investments that create the dynamics of growth in the country's economy. On the other hand, the borrowing opportunities of individuals are an important factor in the investment opportunity and diversity required for the national economy. In this respect, individuals' savings and debt behaviors play an important role in determining their savings tendencies and consumption patterns. In addition, savings and debt behaviors can be affected by various factors such as socioeconomic, demographic, and cultural structures of households. Banks, which constitute one of the most important building blocks in the financial system, which is the main meeting point of fund supply and demanders, offer various financial products and services to individuals. It is thought that digital banking, which has become one of the constant parts of the banking system in the last few decades with technological innovations, may have various effects on individuals' savings and debt behaviors along with other factors mentioned. In this context, this study aims to investigate the effects of digital banking on savings and debt behaviors. For this purpose, analysis was made for the Turkey sample using the 2017 Global Findex dataset and logit model. Considering the important findings of the study, it is understood that digital banking is effective on almost all savings/debt and savings/debt sub-options. Thus, it can be said that new and various financial methods, especially digital banking, are effective on household savings and debt behaviors as well as other related factors.