Electronic Banking and Performance of Commercial Banks in Uganda. A Case Study of Bank of Uganda (2013-2017)

ABSTRACT This study looks at Electronic Banking and performance of commercial banks in line with the profitability. Electronic banking is the use of electronic and telecommunication networks to deliver a wide range of value added products and services to bank customers. E-baking in Uganda has emerged as a strategic resource for achieving higher efficiency, control of operations and reduction of cost by replacing paper based and labor intensive methods with automated processes thus leading to higher profitability and productivity. It is against this background that this study investigated the relationship between c-banking and performance of commercial banks in Uganda. Specifically the study meant to establish whether there exists a relationship between the dependent variable, for example, performance measured by profit after tax and the independent variables consisting of number of ATMs, number of debits and credit cards issued to customers, number of POS terminals and the usage levels of Mobile banking and electronic Funds Transfer, as components of c-banking. The study used secondary data which was collected from the annual report of commercial banks and central Bank of Uganda. The study used both descriptive and inferential statistics in analyzing the data. The study covered a period of five years from the year 2013 to 2017. The findings of the study were that E-banking has a positive and significant effect on the profitability of commercial banks in the Banking sector of Uganda. Thus, there exists positive relationship between E-banking and bank performance. The significance test showed that the influence of bank innovation in this research is statistically significant in explaining the profits of commercial banks in Uganda. The study recommends to the management of those banks that are slow in innovation adoption, to move in and adopt various innovations in their operations in order to shore up their profitability. This recommendation is well supported by the fact that highly profitable banks are mostly the fast movers in adoption of new technologies. It also recommends that the government policy makers should review policies related to promotion of innovation adoption and transfer of technology. Adoption of innovation will improve profitability of organizations because it will translate to better tax revenues for the government.