SASRA Prudential Regulations and Financial Performance of Deposit Taking Saving and Credit Co-Operative Societies in Kenya

Financial performance of Kenya’s deposit-taking savings and credit co-operative societies has been a source of concern, as evidenced by declining indicators over time. According to the SASRA study, profitability has declined significantly, as evidenced by a drop in Return on Assets (ROA) from 2.65% in 2020 to 1.59% in 2021. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of prudential requirements imposed by Kenya's Savings and Credit Cooperative Societies Regulatory Authority (SASRA) on the financial performance of Deposit Taking Savings and Credit Cooperative Organisations (SACCOs). The objectives of the study were to investigate the effect of liquidity, asset quality and capital sufficiency on and financial performance of deposit taking saving and credit co-operative societies in Kenya. The study was based on public interest theory, buffer theory and agency theory. The study employed a comparative research design and positivist research theory. The population studied in this study consisted of 175 licenced Deposit Taking SACCOs. Secondary data was used in the study, which was then analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Stata was used to conduct the analysis in this study. A multiple linear regression model was used to forecast financial performance. Diagnostic tests were performed to ensure that the linear regression model assumptions are not violated. The correlation results showed that liquidity has a negative correlation (-0.0497) with ROA. Capital adequacy showed a positive correlation (0.6710) with ROA. Similarly, asset quality had a positive correlation with ROA (0.5663). Panel regression results confirmed the importance of capital adequacy and asset quality in driving financial performance, as evidenced by highly significant coefficients (0.7140 and 0.2087, respectively) with p-values of 0.0000. The liquidity coefficient, on the other hand, was found to be -0.0008 with a p-value of 0.7380, indicating that changes in liquidity have a negligible impact on ROA. The study discovered that liquidity, capital adequacy, and asset quality explain 62.65% of the variation in financial performance (ROA). The study recommended that deposit-taking savings and credit co-operative societies (SACCOs) should take a balanced approach to liquidity management in order to optimise financial resources and potentially increase returns, and employ a solid capital base to improve stability. Keywords: Micro Finance Institutions, Non-performing loans, Net Interest margin, portfolio at risk, capital adequacy.