Challenges Faced by Family Bank Limited in Servicing Diaspora Remittances

Abstract

The contribution of migration and immigrants to the development of countries of origin is increasingly receiving attention, especially as the volume of remittances from migrants worldwide has sharply increased in the past decade. As Kenya gets increasingly connected to the rest of the world and more Kenyans move abroad to live, work or study, remittances are becoming an increasingly important revenue source for both the government and commercial banks in Kenya. This study therefore sought to establish the challenges faced by Family Bank Limited in servicing diaspora remittances. This research was conducted through a case study since it is a research on one organization. A case study was chosen because it enables the researcher to have an in-depth understanding of the challenges faced by Family Bank Limited in servicing diaspora remittances. The researcher used both primary and secondary data. Primary data was collected using an interview guide while secondary data was collected by use of desk search techniques from published reports and other documents. The data collected using interview guides which was qualitative in nature, was analyzed thematically using conceptual content analysis. From the findings, the study found that there are numerous challenges faced by The Bank in servicing diaspora remittances. The researcher found that the challenges are both Bank oriented and customer oriented. The Bank oriented challenges included ICT under-development, financial constraints lack of sufficient trained agents for marketing, fluctuating market rate. The customer oriented challenges include lack of demographic data on Kenyans in the diaspora, ignorance on the part of the immigrant, low income jobs leading to low savings and investments. The study also found that lack of duo-citizenship in some countries leads to these Kenyans opting to denounce their Kenyan citizenship. These and other challenges are discussed in this paper. The researcher has made several recommendations to Family bank limited, other commercial bank and policy makers on how to deal with these challenges. She has also pointed out areas for further research.