EFFECT OF FINTECH EXPENDITURE ON RETURN ON ASSET OF NIGERIAN DEPOSIT MONEY BANKS

In the last decades, financial markets and the economy have been experiencing an explosion of innovation and technologies modifying financial services and products, especially banking services. In the context of Nigeria's banking sector, previous studies centered around financial technology (FinTech) deployment whereas the current study focused on the critical issues surrounding the determinants of fintech expenditure and its consequential impact on the profitability listed deposit money banks (NDMBs). Primary and secondary data were used for the study. Primary data were collected through a well-structured questionnaire. Secondary data were extracted from abridge annual reports of selected NDMBs for the period 2008 to 2023. The population of the study according to the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX) 2023 consists of 14 NDMBs out of which 9 were selected. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive, inferential statistics, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and panel regression analysis. Descriptive statistics of frequency and percentage were used to analyse the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents while inferential statistics such as ANOVA was used to evaluate factors influencing fintech expenditure in NDMBs. Result of regression analysis on the extent to which fintech expenditure affect return on asset showed that there is a significant relationship between CoS and ROA (p = 0.0208). It is therefore concluded there is significant relationship between fintech expenditure and return on asset of Nigerian deposit money banks. The study recommends that Nigerian deposit money banks should leverage scalable solutions and negotiate better terms with vendors to enhance the cost-effectiveness of their technology investments.