WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2010-09-21 Time: 13:00:03 Posted By: News Poster
By Johnstone Ole Turana
Access to financial services has slowed down as banks review their expansion strategies in the face of intense competition from affordable transaction aids.
But this is expected to change as the introduction of agency banking model and the partnership between telcos and banks in offering mobile money services such as M-Kesho enhance access to financial services.
According to the Governor of the Central Bank, Prof. Njuguna Ndung’u, the recent growth is faltering as commercial banks go slow on expansion programmes.
“The 2009 National Financial Survey indicates that as at June, 2009, 33 per cent of the Kenyan population did not have access to any financial service compared to 38.4 per cent in 2006,” said Prof Ndung’u.
However, this comes at a time when the World Bank’s Financial Access 2010 singled out Kenya alongside Malawi as one of the Sub-Saharan Africa countries which has registered faster growth in financial access.
The report ranks Kenya as the second country in Sub-Saharan Africa to have recorded the highest level of penetration at 29 per cent.
Malawi leads with 31 per cent in the last one year.
Commercial banks have cited the high cost of setting up branches as a major drawback to their expansion drive.
The recent financial and economic crisis effectively pushed banks to slow their expansion drive.
Prof Ndung’u says that CBK has licensed 5,892 agents to offer agency banking, a development that will enhance access to financial services without the additional cost associated with branch expansion.
“The number of bank branches at the end of July, 2010, increased by 24 to stand at 1,020 while bank accounts increased by 35 per cent to 10.7 million from 7.9 million accounts in July 2009”.
This impressive growth has been supported by the expansion of banks into new market segments, prudent risk management and enhanced economic prospects underpinned by a stable macroeconomic environment.
“Ongoing reform initiatives will serve to further propel the banking sector to new frontiers of financial inclusion,” said Prof Ndung’u.
The World Bank report notes that the rapid growth in financial access has been fuelled by the use of technology which has allowed banks to roll out more branches and services such as Automated Teller Machines, Point of Sale (POS).
“New technological developments and the expansion of electronic payments through mobile and Internet banking has enhanced accessibility, bringing financial services closer to clients,” says the report released on Monday by the World Bank and the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP).
According to report, the poor rely on informal financial services that are costly and less reliable, stymieing economic development.
Deepening financial penetration has also been aided by an active microfinance sector which has lowered the overall cost of access to financial services.
Whereas commercial banks have enhanced their penetration levels, other financial sector players such as the insurance industry have minimal penetration.
“Only seven per cent of Kenyans use insurance products while 91 per cent have never used insurance services which deny them the risk mitigation tool that it offers,” said Prof Ndung’u in an address to insurance players.
Prof Ndung’u noted that a consumer protection diagnostic study done this year showed significant customer dissatisfaction with the manner in which insurance products were marketed as well as the tedious and protracted claims process.
Original date published: 21 September 2010
Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/201009210550.html?viewall=1