Digital Financial Technology in Egypt: Determinants, Barriers,

and Machine Learning Evidence on FinTech Adoption and

Financial Inclusion

Dina K. Hassan1,* Ahmed K. Metawee2

1 Faculty of Commerce, Kafr El Sheikh University, Egypt

2 Faculty of Commerce, Mansoura University, Egypt

Received: January 28, 2026 Revised: March 14, 2026 Accepted: May 20, 2026 ⋆ Corresponding author

ABSTRACT

Despite the rapid growth of financial technology in Egypt, the socioeconomic factors influencing the adoption of

digital financial services at the household level are still not fully understood. This paper presents an Adoption

Prediction Model (APM) of Hybrid FinTech (Hybrid-FinTech) model using binary logistic regression together

with ensemble classifiers, Random Forest (RF) and eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost), which is validated

using stratified cross validation. The framework introduces a cross-paradigm agreement criterion that ensures that

the rankings obtained by the coefficient and machine learning feature importance are compatible, yielding a dual

assessment that didn’t exist in either paradigm alone. Empirical analysis finds that internet access and own mobile

phone are the most common structural enablers of FinTech adoption with odds ratios that significantly outperform

any of the demographic and income variables. The rate of formal bank account ownership has a strong independent

positive impact, which suggests complementarity between digital and traditional financial services. The income,

educational and urban-rural gaps are striking, and suggest a deep FinTech divide that cannot be bridged entirely by

infrastructure. The strong generalisation that is seen in cross-validation is true for all population subgroups. The

findings have direct implications for the National Financial Inclusion Strategy, designed by Egypt, and proportionate

FinTech regulation.

Keywords: Financial technology Digital financial inclusion Egypt Machine learning Logistic regression

XGBoost Random forest MENA

1. INTRODUCTION

Egypt is poised for an important role in the MENA FinTech

landscape. With a population, and a growing number of fastgrowing

cities.A population of more than 106 million adults, a

rapidly growing mobile population and an increasing number

of fast-growing cities. technology that facilitates telecommunications,

and a clear directive from the Central Bank to

promote financial inclusion, the conditions that need to be in

place for broader digital financial access. More and more are

being adopted in the financial service sector. [1, 2]. However,

the formal account ownership rate was at The proportion of

adults using the internet for activities rose to 38%in 2021 and

to 39% for adults taking part in specific activities. Financial

instruments with respect to transactions, savings or credit, are

far greater in amount.Financial instruments for transactions,

savings or credit are considerably larger in amount. The authors

of [3, 4] have conducted a lower bound study. The gap

between the Although technology is readily available, the