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THE EFFECT OF AGENCY BANKING ON THE FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF COMMERCIAL BANKS IN KENYA IN 2014: A CASE STUDY OF CHASE BANK

Agency banking as a replica has been very flourishing in boosting the commercial banks’ performance in most developing states. Achievement stories have been witnessed in Peru, Columbia, India and Brazil. This study sought to investigate the effect agency banking had on the financial performance of Kenyan commercial banks in 2014. Chase bank was used as a case study. The study also sought to establish the effect of accessibility of banking services, low cost of service and increased customer transactions through agency banking. This study used a descriptive research design. The target population of this study was 174 staff working at the headquarters of Chase Bank. This study applied stratified random sampling to select 50% of the target population and hence the sample size of this study was 87 respondents. Out of 87 respondents 84 responses were obtained which represent a 97% response rate. Semi structured questionnaires were used in research study to collect primary data. A pretesting that involved 9 staff (10% of the sample size) was conducted at Chase bank at Wabera Street. From the pilot test findings, accessibility of banking services, low cost of service and increased customers transactions had Cronbach alpha of 0.724, 0.732 and 0.698 respectively. This clearly shows that the research instrument was reliable. In the data analysis, descriptive statistics were used to analyze quantitative data and the findings were presented in bar charts, pie charts and tables. Content analysis analyzed data that is qualitative in nature and the findings presented in a prose form. The relationship between the dependent and the independent variables was determined using a multivariate regression analysis. The relationships in the study were positive and significant. The relationship between accessibility of banking services and financial performance of Chase Bank had a coefficient of 1.251 and a p-value of 0.000. In addition, the relationship between low cost of service and financial performance of Chase Bank had a coefficient of 0.800 and a p-value of 0.000. Further, the relationship between customer and the financial performance of Chase Bank had a coefficient of 0.311 and a p-value of 0.008. The study concludes that there is a positive and significant relationship between accessibility of banking services, low cost of service and customer transactions as a result of agency banking and financial performance of Chase Bank. Banking using agency banking excels in service quality and service delivery. Agency banking has low infrastructural cost and hence reduction in cost. Efficiency and convenience in operation in agency banking have increased the banks customers' transactions. The study recommends that commercial banks in Kenya should increase the number of agents in estates and in the rural areas. This study also recommends that commercial banks should also lower the charges of making transactions in agency banks. To improve the adoption of agency banking, commercial banks in Kenya should improve customers perception by making more advertisements and increase promotion activities.

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Author: hussein haile argamo
Contributed by: asbat digital library
Institution: united states international university
Level: university
Sublevel: under-graduate
Type: dissertations