The effect of central bank regulation on the financial performance of Kenya Commercial Bank-Uganda

Abstract

The study investigates the effects of central bank regulations on the performance of Kenya Commercial Bank, Uganda. Having heard of complaints from different players, both inside and outside the bank in question on its financial performance as a comparison to other banks, and a claim that the performance thereof was being inhibited by central bank regulation, the researcher was moved to investigate whether the bank was in conformity with particular regulations and if true, find out how the bank was losing out by conforming thereto, or if not, whether the repercussions for such non-compliance were significant enough to diversely affect its performance. The researcher used case Study design to assess the impact of regulation on performance of Kenya Commercial Bank (U) Ltd. By the nature of it, this was an Explanatory research design chosen to explain the impact of regulation on financial performance. However quantitative design was only used majorly for studying the financial performance of the bank over the years. Random sampling method was used as a sampling method and the focus was on the key bank personnel in the departments of Finance, Audit, Compliance and Credit. Questionnaires were sent out to these respective departments and data collected was analyzed using frequencies and percentage to test the objectives of the study. The researcher found that it was true that the bank did on several occasions not comply with regulations set out by the central bank and was being penalized occasionally. However he also found out that such penalties were NOT significant enough to be credited for being the reason behind the bank’s non-satisfactory performance. It is on this basis that the researcher makes a number of recommendations to be considered for implementation by several market players, within the bank, within the industry and even regulators.