A comparative study of financial condition and performance of islamic and non-islamic banks in Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore and evaluate the financial condition and performance of the Islamic Banks and Conventional Banks in Kenya along the following dimensions; Profitability, Liquidity, Risk and Solvency, as performance measurement criteria. The study applied “descriptive financial analysis” research design and also embraced longitudinal study spanning six years from 2010 to 2015.A sample of seven banks was studied covering two fully fledged Islamic Banks and Five Non-Islamic Banks all under the same “Small Peer Group” according to the CBK bank supervision report of 2015.Data were analyzed using Stata Data Analysis Software. Secondary Data were collected from Financial Statements of the Banks’ Websites under review, Journals, Dissertations, Books, and Internet. The study discovered that Non-Islamic Banks were more profitable than Islamic Banks though there was no statistical significant difference. On the financial conditions, Islamic Banks proved to be statistically and significantly more liquid than the Non-Islamic Banks. Non-Islamic Banks were found to be bearing less risk and more solvent than their counter parts but the variation was not statistically significant.