Effectiveness of financial regulations on growth of deposit taking Savings and Credit Cooperative in Mount Kenya Region
Abstract
Savings and Credit Cooperative (SACCO) societies are key players in the provision of financial
services to Kenyans. Over the years, expansion of SACCOS has been seen as panacea to alleviate
poverty in the society through financial inclusion. This fast growth has not been devoid of
SACCOS facing myriad of challenges. Financial regulations were established by the Government
to prudently control and regulate SACCO sector operations to safe guard the shareholders'
interests. After SASRA regulations of 2010 came into effect, there was 18.6% decline of existing
Deposit Taking SACCOs. This translated into a collapse of forty (40) SACCOS countrywide. This
decline was against the expectation that there would be sustained growth of SACCOS in respect
to SACCO regulations. This study sought to establish the effectiveness of financial regulations on
the growth of deposit taking SACCOS in Mount. Kenya region. The research hypotheses stated
that licensing regulation, Capital adequacy regulation, liquidity regulation and loan provisioning
had any significant effect on the growth of Deposit Taking SACCOS in Mount. Kenya region.
Descriptive research design and inferential statistics were used in the study. The target population
was fifty-four SACCOS from eight Counties of Mount. Kenya region. A census method was used
to collect data from the total population. A questionnaire was employed as the main data collection
instrument for Primary data. Secondary data was obtained from SACCO Society Regulatory
Authority (SASRA) annual supervision reports. Reliability of the study was assessed using
Cronbach alpha coefficient. Quantitative data analysis was undertaken for both primary and
secondary data collected. Data was analyzed using statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS)
Version 25. Tables were used to present the results. Multiple regressions were used to test the
research hypotheses for turnover of DTS against financial regulations to determine the association
among the study variables. The study findings established that licensing (r = 0.945) had strong
positive correlation with growth of SACCOS. However, capital adequacy (r = 0.479), liquidity (r
= 0.478) and loan provisioning (r 0.393) had positive weak correlation with the growths of DTS.
The study concluded that all the variables under study are statistically significant in explaining the
growth of Deposit Taking SACCOS in Kenya. The study recommends review of the licensing
regulations by the government through SASRA to save witnessed decline of SACCO and bring
more entities onboard as SACCOs for sustainable financial inclusion. The study recommends the
government through SASRA to review liquidity challenges encountered by SACCOS and ensure
SACCOS have away to pool their resources together hence cushion them from stiff competition
from other financial players in the industry and salvage SACCOS for sustainable growth.