The effect of agency banking on financial performance of commercial banks in Kenya
Abstract
The banking business
environment has changed and innovative technology has
remained a key strategy for the banking sector to remain competitive.
The banking
fraternity has really transformed its financial operations by providing convenient
and accessible services through mobile banking and internet banking.
To this end
banks are fast developing
branchless banking such as ATM, internet and mobile
banking among
others (Laukkanen & Pasanen, 2007).Agency banking is among
the
latest inventions that have improved the banking
services by increasing accessibility
and convenience to customers. Agency banking model requires commercial banks
to rely on the existing infrastructure such as supermarkets, hotels and petrol
stations to reach out to customers.
Banking agents are usually equipped with a
combination of point-of-
sale (POS)card reader, mobile phone, barcode scanner to
scan bills for bill payment transactions, Personal Identification Number(PIN) pads,
and sometimes personal computers (PCs) that connect with the bank’s server using
a personal dial-up or other data connection.
To drive decision making, ensure
appropriate agent set up and channel support and permit subsequent performance
evaluation against the original strategic intent (Sidiek, 2008).
The objective of this
study was mainly to evaluate the extent to which the agency model has contributed
to the financial performance of the commercial banks in Kenya.
Performance
measures adopted was Return on Equity.
In summary, the study reveals that agency
banking has significant positive
effect on the ROE of the Kenyan banks.
From the
statistical analysis it‘s revealed that there is a significance level between the agency
banking variables and the rate of return on Assets.
This implies that agency banking
is continuously improving leading
to significance increased financial performance in
those banks that have rolled up the service due to its convenience and efficiency in
operation.
The recommendations are that commercial banks should fully embrace
agency banking through adoption of improve
d technology for information security
volume of
to make it more reliable to the customers. The government should
support the program more often and reduce the high compliance costs,
bureaucracy in registration and high cost of taxation
Publisher
University of Nairobi