EFFECTIVENESS OF LICENSING REGULATIONS ON GROWTH OF DEPOSIT TAKING SAVINGS AND CREDT CO-OPERATIVES IN MT. KENYA REGION

SACCOs for quite a long period of time have been seen as panacea to alleviate poverty in the society through financial inclusion. Licensing regulation was established to prudently control and regulate SACCOs’ joining the Deposit Taking business. The aim of the current study was to establish the effectiveness of licensing regulation on growth of Deposit Taking SACCOs in Mt. Kenya region. Descriptive research design and inferential statistics were used in the study. The study targeted 54 Chief Executive Officers/Managers in Mt. Kenya region as respondents. Census study was undertaken and questionnaire was employed to collect primary data. Secondary data was obtained from SACCO Society Regulatory Authority annual supervision reports. Quantitative data analysis was done for numerical data obtained from the field. This was carried out using descriptive statistics by use of statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 25. Tables were used to present the results. Regressions were used to test the research hypothesis for turnover against licensing regulations to determine the association among the study variable. The study concluded that there was negative and statistically significant correlation between licensing regulation and growth of SACCOs in Mt. Kenya Region. The study recommends that SACCOs need to adhere to all the licensing regulations as spelt out in the SACCO society’s Act. Further the study recommends review of the licensing regulations by the government through SASRA to save witnessed decline of SACCO and bring more entities onboard as SACCOs for sustainable financial inclusion. Keywords: Licensing Regulation, Deposit Taking Savings and Credit Cooperative Societies, Growth