No abstract

The study examined the influence of firm characteristics on share price movement (SPM) at Nairobi Securities Exchange, Kenya. The features selected for the study were firm size, product variety, firm age, Earnings per Share (EPS), ownership and corporate social responsibility (CSR). From the population of sixty-seven listed firms at the bourse as of December 2018, a purposive sample of 47 firms was extracted from the Main Investment Market Segment (MIMS). Secondary data for the period 2000-2018 was collected from the listed company's annual financial statements, company websites, the Capital Markets Authority and NSE Handbooks. The relationship among firm size (using sales revenue as proxy), product variety, age of the firm, EPS, ownership and CSR on SPM was determined from the unbalanced panel data comprising 777 observations. Econometric statistical analysis tools were used on ordinary least squares model that possessed explanatory power 54.7% for the SPM. Firm size (ρ=0.0384), ownership (ρ=0.034) and product variety (ρ=0.043) were significantly related to share price movements, whereas firm age, EPS and CSR impact were insignificant. The association of the combined predictors for each separate sector to SPM was also examined and found to be significant in the sectors of construction allied (ρ=0.024), telecommunications and technology (ρ=0.0323), investments (ρ=0.037) and commercial services (ρ=0.041). However, agriculture, automobiles, banking, energy, manufacturing and insurance sectors were statistically insignificant with ρ≥ 0.05.

Worldwide, insurance companies play a vital role in contributing to the efficient resources allocation through risk management in most sectors of the economy. Insurance has existed since civilizations initially presenting itself in the form of mutual help. One of the fundamental services offered by the insurance company is to provide its customers with claims settlement. The general objective of this study was to assess the effects of claims management on financial performance of insurance companies. The study used a case study research design whereby descriptive approaches were applied to collect quantitative and qualitative data using questionnaire and interview guide. The researcher targeted 93 permanent employees, 10 registered agents, 13 contracted brokers, and 205 claimants in Kigali City. Findings on claims management processes in SONARWA General Insurance which are claims planning, claims control, claims monitoring and evaluation show that they are frequently undertaken as it is indicated by the weighted means ranging between 1.00 ≤ mean score ≤ 1.50. The financial ratios indicate that there is a constant stagnation of financial performance as indicated by 3.6% of ROI in 2014 and the same percentage in 2018. Although there has been a sharp increase in 2016 followed by a sharp decrease in 2017 on ROE and ROA, the graph indicates that these have been approaching stagnation over other years. However, the correlation is not statistically significant. It was observed that claims planning and claims M & E has a significant positive correlation with ROI indicated by a Pearson Correlation value of (0.481** and ρ-value of 0.000; 0.329* and a ρ-value of 0.015: ρ ≤ 0.05). Finally, the study established that there is a positive correlation between claims planning, claims control and claims M & E on ROE. Moreover, the correlation between claims M & E and ROE is statistically significant as indicated by Pearson correlation value of 0.276* and ρ-value of 0.

Despite deposit insurance increasingly gaining favour from policy makers, it remains an inconclusive debate with different authors taking different arguments on its effect on bank stability. This paper sets out to establish the link between deposit insurance and bank system stability, with an empirical review on the Kenya banking system. At first, we argued that deposit insurance tends to bring stability in the banking sector by providing assurance to the depositors, thereby reducing the possibilities of bank run. However, such an interaction is only possible where other regulatory framework is available without banking competition. The results do not support our earlier arguments but point that deposit insurance coverage-stability nexus exists in the short run and tends to favour smaller banks. The results however support our second argument that with banking competition, the coverage-stability nexus is diluted as the banks competition increases bank appetite for risky activities regardless of the deposit insurance scheme. We recommend that policy makers should not focus a lot on increasing deposit insurance coverage limit, but rather on other supervisory framework, since the effect of the coverage on stability is felt in the short run.