Effect of Treasury Risk Management on Financial Performance of Kenyan Deposit Taking Saccos; A Case of Nakuru County

Abstract

Treasury management has been and still is a global concern not only in formal corporate world but also in informal financial sector. In Financial institutions, treasury management is about the aspect of risk management by measuring it, controlling it, diversifying it and hedging it. Risk taking is the heart of every financial institution and it is the conscious engagement in risk that constitutes the economic value of financial intermediation. Treasury risk management therefore refers to the process of identifying a suitable trade-off between risks and return in order to maximize the existing opportunities in a society’s operational environment. The advent of regulation in the SACCO sector and the development of commercially autonomous member-based cooperative organizations which are democratically and professionally managed, self-controlled and selfreliant business enterprises means that Cooperative societies can now compete with other business enterprises for the financial business market share. The researcher therefore sought to establish whether licensed deposit taking SACCO societies have adopted the practice of treasury risk management and how this has affected their financial performance. To establish this, the researcher adopted a survey study since it describes in-depth the nature of the phenomenon and examines actions as they happen rather than manipulation of the variables. The research targeted Internal Auditors, Banking/Fosa managers, Finance Managers and Risk managers of licensed deposit taking SACCO societies operating within Nakuru County selected using simple random sampling method to achieve a response level of at least 30%.Data was collected using questionnaires which were tested for validity and reliability. The research findings revealed that not all SACCOs have implemented treasury risk management practices in their treasury operations thus some had not identified the specific risks facing their treasury operations. The collected data was analyzed and tested using t-test on SSPSS version 20. The analyzed dataconfirmed that the implementation of treasury risk management practices has an effect on the regulatory compliance of some selected financial ratios and the financial performance of SACCO Societies.