Strategies adopted by commercial banks in Kenya in implementing agency banking

Abstract

Banks, among other organizations, have been facing a dynamic business environment that is technologically driven, globally unbounded, and customer oriented. These challenges, among many others, called for extensive search for suitable strategies to be adopted by organizations for growth and survival in the changing and turbulent marketplace and as such major banks are using branchless banking channels to deliver services and reach new clients through retail outlets. Agents can provide multiple benefits: increase client convenience, reduce transaction costs, and reach out to new customers thus it is important that the bank has clear strategies to implement successful agency banking across the country. The objective of the study was to - determine the strategies adopted by commercial banks in Kenya in implementing agency banking. The researcher applied a descriptive design and adopted a cross-sectional survey approach. The target population comprised of all banks that had implemented agency banking which included: Equity bank Kenya Limited, Family Bank Kenya Limited, Kenya Commercial bank Limited, Co-operative Bank of Kenya Limited and Postbank Limited. The study used both primary and secondary data. Primary d~ta was collected by use of a semi-structured questionnaire with both open and closed ended questions while Secondary data was obtained from annual reports and periodicals of the banks. The questionnaires were administered to respondents in person using a drop and pick later method to ensure a high response rate