Political Dimension in Pan-African Cross-border Banking: An Inhibitor or Catalyst?

Abstract

The emergence and the dominance of African banks in Africa have been touted as one of the popular mechanisms for financial development leading to a concept termed as Pan-African cross-border banking. African Banks have become dominant in the African market as opposed to European colonial banks substantially increasing their geographic footprints on the continent. African banks have become economically significant beyond their home countries and of systematic importance in a number of jurisdictions. This systematically examined the influence of the political environment on Pan-African cross-border banking using Kenya Commercial bank as a case study.

Interpretive research paradigm guided the study seeking using qualitative data by interviewing employees, managers, and policymakers from the three subsidiaries of Kenya Commercial Bank; Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi. This was further supported by secondary data collected from journal articles and reports from the Kenya Commercial Bank.

The study established that political environment plays an important role in influencing Pan-African cross-border banking either through catalysing or inhibiting. Despite effort integration by African Union, regional unions like East African Community there still areas for improvement. In order to enhance Pan-African cross-border banking, there has to be systematically management of political environment which was distorted by history, ideologies, different political systems, different regulatory frameworks between the subsidiaries and home countries. This will further enhance the significance of Pan-African banks African cross-border banks enhancing economic development within Africa.