Executive summary

The state of the sector review set out to complete a rapid assessment of the supply of financial services across Kenya. Between Feb and Mar 2010, over 90 Kenyan financial institutions were interviewed alongside 22 business service provide, in order to obtain a broad overview of the state of the financial sector. The final survey sector sample *including commercial banks, microfinance institutions and savings and credit cooperatives) from seven of the eight provinces in Kenya.

The main results from the survey highlight the concentration of the financial institution and outsourced services in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi. The supply of financial services across the country is characterized b a limited yet growing product offer. the survey shows the supply of financial services in Kenya is quite concentrated, with the top five financial institutions surveyed managing around half of the aggregate loan portfolio.

Funding sources for Kenya financial institutions vary. Survey findings related to the payment system show that the majority of banks directly participate in the clearing system. Partnerships among surveyed institutions seemed to be gaining importance. Bank provide deposit services to MFIs and SACCOs which in total use over 30 different banks to deposit their cash. A variety of outsourced services are utilized by all financial institutions, with the banks utilizing the greatest variety of service providers.