Prudential Regulatory Framework and Financial Performance of Micro Finance Institutions in Kenya
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Date
2024-06
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Kenyatta University
Abstract
Microfinance institutions must abide by strict capital, legislative, operational, and financial reporting requirements, per the regulatory framework. Rising non-performing loans and insufficient cash have been ongoing issues despite prudential regulations being in place to enable the Central Bank of Kenya supervise Microfinance institutions. Therefore, the objective of this investigation was to ascertain how the prudential regulatory environment affected Kenya's microfinance organizations financial performance. The study's specific goal was to investigate how credit risk, liquidity requirements, capital requirements, and microfinance size affect financial performance. Liability management theory, the buffer theory of capital adequacy, agency theory, and the shiftability theory of liquidity served as the study's pillars. In this study, causal research design was adopted. As of December 31, 2019, the 13 microfinance institutions in Kenya that were officially listed on the website of the Central Bank of Kenya constituted the population of this study. Document reviews of information found in publicly available financial statements and annual reports for the preceding five years, from 2016 to 2020, were employed as secondary data for the study. Return on Assets was used to gauge the financial success of Micro Institutions. Tables displayed the results of a quantitative analysis of the data using descriptive statistics such as mean and standard deviation. Inferential statistics were also used in the study, including diagnostic tests like the multicollinearity test, normalcy test, and heteroscedasticity test. The findings of the investigation indicated that, while the size of Kenyan microfinance institutions had no statistically significant effect on their performance, the capital adequacy and liquidity requirement had a significant effect. Furthermore, Microfinance institutions in Kenya were not found to have a statistically significant relationship with credit risk and profitability. The study came to the conclusion that microfinance institutions need for liquidity decides whether it can meet its short-term loan obligations and whether it can use its current or liquid assets to pay its current liabilities. Cash rules make ensuring that investments that raise the risk of default do not dominate microfinance companies and that they have sufficient cash on hand to honor withdrawals and pay operating losses. Since lowering overhead has a direct influence on profitability, the study advised that the micro financial institutions examine their overhead costs and look for possibilities to do so. The microfinance organizations should raise their capital requirements by increasing profits, selling long-term assets for cash, acquiring funds through the issuance of preferred or common stock in return for cash; obtaining long-term financing, and doing all of the above. Lending should be done by microfinance organizations to a variety of clients, including consumers, small enterprises, and big businesses.
Description
A Research Project Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Award of the Degree of Master of Business Administration (Finance Option) of Kenyatta University, June 2024.
Supervisor
James M. Gatauwa