Products And Consumers: A Critical And Comperative Study Of Financial Services In Financial Institutions In Kenya. (Case Study Of Selected Commercial Banks In Kenya).

In Kenya, commercial banks are known for their consequent and extraordinary profits that they generate at the end of their accounting periods. The entrance of the foreign banks in the local industry within the region posses a high level of competition that has made banks to constantly come up with several and different financial products and services in order to maintain market leadership or to take over the market leadership. This research takes an investigative study of banks as financial institutions to be examined; this is because they are the leading providers of financial products and services. The major banks considered in this study are Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB), Barclays bank (Kenya), equity bank and Co-operative Bank of Kenya to compare and analyze 1. The nature of financial products and services provided by financial institutions in Kenya, 2. Determine the level of acceptability or importance of financial products and services to the consumer. 3. Asses the consumer's perception on the financial products and services offered by the financial institutions, and 4. Evaluate the relationship between financial products and the consumer. The study will adopt a cross sectional research design and utilize both the open ended and close ended questionnaires, and interview schedules as methods of data collection. The target population of this study will consist commercial banks and their customers. The sample size will contain a population of 200 people this is to ensure the accuracy and the reliability of the data. Four (4) banks will be visited, four (4) senior managers per the selected bank interviewed, ten (10) employees per bank interviewed and the rest (144) will be customers of these banks. Stratified and cluster sampling will be used considering the wide geographical area that comprises Nairobi city where the headquarters of these banks are scattered. The study will be of benefit to the existing and incoming financial institutions within Kenya, it will also be of importance to the consumers of financial products and services e.g. credit cards and private and corporate banking