The Influence of E-banking on the Financial Performance of Kenyan Commercial Banks

Aims: The mobile and internet revolution has influenced creation and delivery of financial services leading to more innovative ways of linking customers and partners. Electronic Banking (e-banking) has opened up a new channel of banking resulting in new capabilities for banks as intermediaries. The research questions that the study sought to answer include, the role of mobile banking on the financial performance in Kenyan commercial banks, the effect of Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) on the financial performance of Kenyan commercial banks.

Study Design: The research adopted descriptive design with quantitative data approaches.

Place and Duration of Study: The target population was made up of 24 Kenyan Commercial Banks in the North Coast region of Kenya with a total of 240 employees. These banks are top tier lead brands listed in the stock exchange in the banking sector in Kenya between December 2022 and July 2023.

Methodology: Strata of top management (section heads), middle managers (branch managers and super agents) and operational employees (lower cadre employees & credit officers) provided 72 respondents. Both secondary and primary data sources were used with the self-administered questionnaires containing both open and closed ended questions. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, correlation and multiple regression on a model of Y = 1.518+ 0.438 X1 + 0.136 X2 + ε.

Results: The correlation of the independent variables and the dependent variable was high and positive at 0.697 and 0.573 for mobile banking and Electronic Funds Transfer on financial performance respectively. The value of the adjusted R squared was found to be 0.654. The value of F-statistic was found to be 44.919 and it p-value 0.000. The regression coefficient of mobile banking was found to be 0.438 with a t-statistic value of 6.126.

The regression coefficient of EFT was found to be 0.136 with a t-statistic value of 6.182.

Conclusion: There is a strong relationship between mobile banking, EFT and financial performance of commercial banks in Kenya. M-banking has significantly reduced operational costs while EFT has increased the number of daily transactions. The study established that the popularity of m-banking has is due to the intensity of technology penetration of mobile phones to bank customers which has resulted in the number of customers registering for m-banking services to increase in the last five years. Commercial banks have also experienced increased ROA and growth in market share with adoption of e-banking.