Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on Performace of Kenyan Banks

Abstract

Across many nations, the arrival of the pandemic came at a time that they were experiencing some degree of economic stress or political tension, which has resulted in a significant adverse impact on the customers, employees, investors, and governments. The study sought to assess the effect that impact of COVID-19 pandemic on performance5of Kenyan5banks. Specifically, the study5sought to5determine the5impact of COVID-19 pandemic on loans advance; establish the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on deposits and determine the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on profitability of Kenyan banks. The research5employed a descriptive5research design. The target5population of this5study was 42 Kenyan commercial5banks. This research involved all the 37 banks in Kenya between 2019 and 2020. The researcher collected quarterly secondary data from individual financial reports from CBK using data5collection sheet. The data5was collected for a period5of two5years. The researcher adopted an event study methodology in collecting data. The event window was two years from 2019 to 2020. This was done one year before the event (COVID 19) and one year during COVID 19. Quarterly data was collected for the variables. The5data was analyzed using SPSS version 25. The study utilized descriptive and inferential statistics. The researcher checked the performance before and during COVID-19. Comparison was done to establish the impact of Covid-19 on performance of Kenyan banks. The findings showed that the mean loans advances in the pre-Covid period was less than the mean loan advances in the Covid-19 period. This shows that loans advances increased with the onset of Covid-19. The study concludes that Covid-19 has a positive effect on loans advanced by Kenyan commercial banks. This shows that the Kenyan commercial banks have experienced increased level of loans advanced in the Covid-19 period. From the descriptive statistics, the mean deposits in the Covid-19 period was5higher than5the mean in the pre-Covid period. This shows that customer deposits increased with Covid-19. This leads to the conclusion that Covid-19 has a positive effect on deposit levels in Kenyan commercial banks. This shows that Covid-19 increased the level of deposits across the Kenyan commercial banks. The findings showed that Covid 19 reduced the profitability of Kenyan banks since the profits in the pre-Covid period was5higher than that5in the Covid-195period. The study, concluded5that Covid-19 has a negative impact on the profitability of Kenyan commercial banks. This shows that the banks experienced reduction in their profitability levels during Covid-19. The study recommends that Kenyan commercial banks come up with relevant strategies that would ensure that they manage covid-19. This study recommends that the commercial banks come up with programs that would support the fight against Covid-19 in order to reduce the negative effects on profitability.