Kenya Commercial Bank Limited and the Effects of Globalization

Abstract

When globalization is used in an economic context it refers to the reduction and removal of barriers between national borders in order to facilitate the flow of goods, capital, services and labour. Globalization has had an effect on how banking business activities are conducted worldwide and commercial banks in Kenya were not spared. Globalization of the banking sector is essential in that it brings new technology which help improve banking services and infrastructure hence reduce fraudulent activities, new risk management techniques and increased confidence in the banking sector. Due to changing market trends and competition in the business environment, many organizations are adopted globalization strategy in order to gain competitive edge against their competitors. Major changes are currently taking place globally within the banking industry due to emerging technologies in the banking sector. ICT adoption in business practice by many organizations around the world has made globalization strategy a reality. With the help of ICT adoption, many organizations are now providing their products and services in multiple countries of the world to gain competitive edge in the in the global market. Globalization and ICT adoption have been proved to be concepts that have revolutionalized traditional business practices of many organizations around the world thus making them to be more innovative, efficient and effective in their operations thus competitive edge The research objectives were: to establish the effect of globalization on Kenya commercial bank and to establish measures KCB put in place to deal with globalization. Secondary data was gathered from library material, bank journals and reports, media publications and various Internet search engines covering the implications of globalization to Kenya Commercial Bank. Primary data was collected from respondents (Kenya Commercial Bank employees) by the use of interview guide as the main instruments of data collection. Content analysis method was used to analyze data and examine the intensity with which certain words were used and systematically describes the form or content of written or spoken material. Content analysis helped to capture the in-depth opinions of the respondents’ thus accurate decision making of the problem under investigation qualitatively. Kenya Commercial Bank was used as a case study. Interview guides were used to collect the data in addition to documentary review. It was found that globalization ensures efficient service delivery as human bank tellers; long queues and underutilization of internet were still in existence in the banking system. Globalization of the banking sector is essential in that it brings new technology which help improve banking services and infrastructure hence reduce fraudulent activities, new risk management techniques cost reduction in operation, new product development, reduced lead time in service delivery to customers and increased confidence in the banking sector.