BANK-SPECIFIC CHARACTERISTICS AND FINANCIAL DISTRESS OF COMMERCIAL BANKS IN KENYA

Abstract

Empirical evidence on the banking industry in Kenya indicates that local banks have been prone to financial distress. Commercial banks in Kenya have been experiencing cycles in Financial Distress and though such cycles have been precipitated by Bank-Specific Characteristics in other countries. It is still a challenge for empirical investigation as to know whether Bank-Specific Characteristics significantly affect Financial Distress in Kenya’s banking industry. Subsequently, the basis of this research was to evaluate the connection between Bank-Specific Characteristics and Financial Distress of commercial banks in Kenya. Explicitly, the research was informed by determining the Income Diversification on Financial Distress of commercial banks in Kenya. The Gambler’s ruin theory and Modern portfolio theory provided theoretical anchorage to the research. Positivism research philosophy and causal research design were adopted for the study. The research was a census of all the 36 fully operational commercial banks in Kenya for the period 2011 through 2019. Secondary data was utilized in this study. Data sources included: websites of the CBK and individual Commercial Banks, audited financial statements and Annual supervision reports. Data analysis entailed use of descriptive and inferential statistics where the latter involved dynamic panel logistic regression analysis. Diagnostic tests undertaken in the study included: model specification, stationarity, autocorrelation, and multicollinearity tests. Hypotheses were tested at a significance level of 0.05. Data was displayed through frequency tables and graphs. Based on the dynamic panel Logistic regression analysis, the research revealed that Income Diversification had a significant effect on Bankometer Score (β=0.3504847, p=0.002) on commercial banks in Kenya. The study recommended that banks should diversify their revenue streams into new business areas and markets while considering risks and capabilities. Keywords: Income Diversification, Bank Concentration, Bank Size, Deposit Mobilization, Profitability Growth, Bank Specific Characteristics Distress. and Financial Distress