Corporate Governance Practices by Major Commercial Banks in Kenya

Abstract

The banking industry in Kenya has not received due attention as regards corporate governance, and how they measure with established standards. This research project sought to fill this void by achieving two objectives; establish the corporate governance practices that are employed by the major commercial banks in Kenya, and to expose differences between these practices and established best practices. This study used both primary and secondary data to achieve these objectives. Primary data was obtained directly from top management in banks through questionnaire administration that had both closed and open ended questions that provided this research with both qualitative and qualitative data. Secondary data was especially used to establish best practices. The respondents were six top managers of the six major commercial banks in the country that comprise tier one status in the market. Findings indicate that Kenya has made great strides in corporate governance practices in the banking industry through benchmarking and to some extent regulation. The study however exposed shortfalls in representation in boards of management and certain aspects of regulation such as remuneration. The study recommends sound regulatory governance as regards representation. The quality of supervision and prudential guidelines need to be carefully crafted.