Assessment of Debt Securities on Performance of Commercial Banks in Nyeri County, Kenya

Abstract

The study investigated the effect of debt securities on performance of commercial banks in Nyeri County, Kenya. The study used quantitative descriptive research design and target population comprised 16 commercial banks in Nyeri County, Kenya. The respondents comprised 194 respondents in various departments. The study analyzed descriptive statistics like frequencies, percentages and mean. Inferential statistics including correlation and regression analysis were also used. The result of secondary data on financial performance pointed the gross profit had the highest average mean of 3.2 while net profit had the lowest mean. An observation of the years indicated that the gross and net profits for the banks were highest in 2019, followed by 2022 while 2020 recorded the lowest annual profits. Debt securities had a Pearson correlation coefficient r=0.312** at α < 0.000 and a 99% significance level. Therefore, the null hypothesis was rejected since the R-value was less than 1. The study concluded that performance was positively impacted but some products such as commercial papers were unattractive to clients due to high risks of poor performance in wealth generation. This situation was fueled further by the low training on its applicability towards boosting the income levels of both the bank and client’s portfolio. The study recommends that the branch managers should develop policy structure that requires mandatory frequent training on staff to understand how not only main stream banking products operate but also securities such as commercial papers. Further, the board of management should assess the risk-return aspect of selected debt securities like the types of commercial papers to ascertain the ones which are riskier than the rest.