Policy Innovations to Improve Access to Financial Services ...

Policy Innovations to Improve Access to Financial Services in Developing Countries: Learning from Case Studies in Kenya

David Cracknell1 2012

1 David Cracknell works for MicroSave Consulting Limited in Kenya. . He would like to thank Stijn Claessens and David Roodman, and in particular Liliana Rojas-Suarez, for their input on earlier drafts of this paper. The author is however solely responsible for any errors.

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Policy Innovations to Improve Access to Financial Services in Developing Countries: Learning from Case Studies in Kenya

Abstract

This paper examines the factors which are driving increased financial inclusion in Kenya, and poses the question whether increasing accessibility and competition will of itself be sufficient to continue to extend financial services to the very poor. The paper discusses the extent to which recent advances in the Kenyan financial system meet the Principles for Expanding Financial Access developed by a Task Force organized by the Center for Global Development. This paper discusses four innovations in financial access undertaken in Kenya. The central idea is to present advances and assess potential shortcomings of these initiatives. The paper also examines the capability of replicating the innovations in other countries, and the extent to which the innovations meet the Principles for Expanding Financial Access. The studies include two leading innovators, Equity Bank arguably Africa's most successful microfinance focused bank, and Safaricom's M-Pesa, the world's leading mobile payments provider. Two other studies show institutional responses to an increasingly competitive and technology driven sector, the new business model of Kenya Post Office Savings Bank, and the mobile phone based microfinance institution Musoni.

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Overview

Worldwide, financial access has become an increasingly important development metric, as one of the factors which can drive widespread economic development. This paper deals with Kenya's advances and challenges to improve financial inclusion. The paper is part of a series of studies conducted under the Centre for Global Development (CGD) project on Financial Access. Based on an analytical framework prepared by a CGD Task Force entitled "Policy Principles for Expanding Financial Access," the CGD project analyses and assesses the most important programs and innovations that are being implemented in a select number of countries around the developing world.

The approach taken here is to provide an overview of the Kenyan financial sector, to determine the factors that are influencing change and then to assess how these changes relate to the CGD policy principles. Four case studies have been carefully chosen to illustrate the interrelationships between the macro and mesa policy environment, the competitive environment and the actions of individual stakeholders in the financial sector. The case studies are, Equity Bank, Safaricom's M-PESA, Kenya Post Office Savings Bank and Musoni Kenya Limited.

1. Background

Kenya is a developing country with a total population of 43 million people.2 Kenya has slightly lower than average income inequality of the countries studied, measured by the Gini Coefficient at 47.7. South Africa's Gini coefficient is 57.8, Brazil's is 55.0, Peru's is 49.6, Mexico's is 48.1, and India's is 36.8 (UNDP, 2009).

Kenya has a relatively well developed financial sector which comprises 43 commercial banks, 1 mortgage finance company, 7 Deposit Taking Microfinance companies (DTMs), some 3,500 active Savings and Credit Cooperatives (SACCOs), one postal savings bank - Kenya Post Office Savings Bank (KPOSB) 125 foreign exchange bureaus, a host of unlicensed lenders, and an Association of Microfinance Institutions (AMFI) with 56 members3. Despite the abundance of financial institutions, the financial sector in Kenya is highly concentrated. Four financial institutions, Equity

2 3 Interview with AMFI November 2012

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Bank, Cooperative Bank, Kenya Post Office Savings Bank and Kenya Commercial Bank, account for two thirds of all bank accounts which numbered 14 million by mid 20124. In the traditional microfinance sector, than 70% of the market is made up of Kenya Women Finance, Faulu Kenya and Jamii Bora5. In addition, similar high levels of concentration are seen with SACCOs.

In spite of the global recession and credit crisis, the financial sector in Kenya continues to enjoy healthy levels of growth. Assets and profits continued to grow in the five years from 2006 to 2010 as shown in the table below. Whilst this growth dipped between 2008 and 2009, this was mostly as a result of the post election violence in 2008, and the consequent slow-down in the economy rather than as a result of the international banking crisis.

Assets and Profits of the Kenyan Commercial Banking Sector in Kshs Billions 2010 % 2009 % 2008 % 2007 %

2006

Total Assets

1,548.00 23% 1,263.00 15% 1,099.00 32% 833.00 20% 695.00

Profit before Tax 34.90 42% 24.60 3%

Figures: CBK Annual Reports, figures to June in each year

23.90 47% 16.30

30% 12.50

Facilitating financial access is a major drive behind the strengthening of the financial sector. Kenya, as well as a number of African countries, takes part in a series of financial access surveys. This is called FinAccess in Kenya6 and FinScope in other African countries. FinAccess produces a periodic snapshot of financial access in Kenya based on a nationwide survey. To date two surveys have been conducted, the first in 2006 and the second in 2009, a third study for 2012 is currently in preparation. As shown in Graph 1, there appears to have been a notable improvement in the level of financial access. The percentage of totally excluded adults has reduced from 38.4% to 32.7%, whilst the percentage of the adult population included in the formal sector have increased from 18.9% to 22.6%.

4 Central Bank of Kenya Supervision Reports 5 FinAccess Survey 2009- Jamii Bora is now a regulated commercial bank 6 The FinAccess studies are available for download from the website of the Financial Sector Deepening Programme in Kenya.

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The survey shows the use of formal services has increased, particularly those of banks and MFIs, and the percentage of adults excluded from the banking system has significantly decreased. This pattern is partly explained by the rapid expansion of institutions focused on the mass retail sector, notably Equity Bank, and the two microfinance institutions, KWF Microfinance and Faulu Kenya.

Graph 1: Extent of Financial Access in the Adult Population: Source FinAccess Survey 2009

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