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Fund Size and Performance of Unit Trust Funds in Kenya

Received: 18 October 2020    Accepted: 7 November 2020    Published: 10 February 2021
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Abstract

When investors take part in any investment, the main objective is to increase their wealth. This is achieved when share prices increase. The performance of unit trusts in Kenya has however been poor compared to the counterparts in the rest of the world. The poor performance is a discouragement to individual and corporate investors in addition to affecting the realisation of financial stability according to the Kenya vision 2030. Empirical literature from developed and emerging markets posits that fund size explain the performance of unit trust funds. This study therefore investigated the effects of fund size on the performance of unit trust funds in Kenya. The study adopted an explanatory research design and positivism philosophy. The target population was 16 unit trust firms in Kenya as at the end of the year 2017. The study used a census approach. Secondary data was collected from the audited financial statement of respective unit trusts for the period 2005 to 2017 using a data collection schedule. The study established that fund size has significant positive effect on performance in all funds. The study concluded that increase in fund size increases performance. The study recommends that capital market authority should monitor performance of unit trusts constantly and in addition develop merger policies to encourage small unit trust to merge in order to take advantage of economies of scale.

Published in Journal of Finance and Accounting (Volume 9, Issue 1)
DOI 10.11648/j.jfa.20210901.12
Page(s) 8-15
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Fund Size, Unit Trust Funds, Performance, Unit Trust Funds Performance

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  • APA Style

    Anderson Namu Nthimba, Ambrose Jagongo, Lucy Wamugo. (2021). Fund Size and Performance of Unit Trust Funds in Kenya. Journal of Finance and Accounting, 9(1), 8-15. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jfa.20210901.12

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    ACS Style

    Anderson Namu Nthimba; Ambrose Jagongo; Lucy Wamugo. Fund Size and Performance of Unit Trust Funds in Kenya. J. Finance Account. 2021, 9(1), 8-15. doi: 10.11648/j.jfa.20210901.12

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    AMA Style

    Anderson Namu Nthimba, Ambrose Jagongo, Lucy Wamugo. Fund Size and Performance of Unit Trust Funds in Kenya. J Finance Account. 2021;9(1):8-15. doi: 10.11648/j.jfa.20210901.12

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  • @article{10.11648/j.jfa.20210901.12,
      author = {Anderson Namu Nthimba and Ambrose Jagongo and Lucy Wamugo},
      title = {Fund Size and Performance of Unit Trust Funds in Kenya},
      journal = {Journal of Finance and Accounting},
      volume = {9},
      number = {1},
      pages = {8-15},
      doi = {10.11648/j.jfa.20210901.12},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jfa.20210901.12},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.jfa.20210901.12},
      abstract = {When investors take part in any investment, the main objective is to increase their wealth. This is achieved when share prices increase. The performance of unit trusts in Kenya has however been poor compared to the counterparts in the rest of the world. The poor performance is a discouragement to individual and corporate investors in addition to affecting the realisation of financial stability according to the Kenya vision 2030. Empirical literature from developed and emerging markets posits that fund size explain the performance of unit trust funds. This study therefore investigated the effects of fund size on the performance of unit trust funds in Kenya. The study adopted an explanatory research design and positivism philosophy. The target population was 16 unit trust firms in Kenya as at the end of the year 2017. The study used a census approach. Secondary data was collected from the audited financial statement of respective unit trusts for the period 2005 to 2017 using a data collection schedule. The study established that fund size has significant positive effect on performance in all funds. The study concluded that increase in fund size increases performance. The study recommends that capital market authority should monitor performance of unit trusts constantly and in addition develop merger policies to encourage small unit trust to merge in order to take advantage of economies of scale.},
     year = {2021}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Fund Size and Performance of Unit Trust Funds in Kenya
    AU  - Anderson Namu Nthimba
    AU  - Ambrose Jagongo
    AU  - Lucy Wamugo
    Y1  - 2021/02/10
    PY  - 2021
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jfa.20210901.12
    DO  - 10.11648/j.jfa.20210901.12
    T2  - Journal of Finance and Accounting
    JF  - Journal of Finance and Accounting
    JO  - Journal of Finance and Accounting
    SP  - 8
    EP  - 15
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2330-7323
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jfa.20210901.12
    AB  - When investors take part in any investment, the main objective is to increase their wealth. This is achieved when share prices increase. The performance of unit trusts in Kenya has however been poor compared to the counterparts in the rest of the world. The poor performance is a discouragement to individual and corporate investors in addition to affecting the realisation of financial stability according to the Kenya vision 2030. Empirical literature from developed and emerging markets posits that fund size explain the performance of unit trust funds. This study therefore investigated the effects of fund size on the performance of unit trust funds in Kenya. The study adopted an explanatory research design and positivism philosophy. The target population was 16 unit trust firms in Kenya as at the end of the year 2017. The study used a census approach. Secondary data was collected from the audited financial statement of respective unit trusts for the period 2005 to 2017 using a data collection schedule. The study established that fund size has significant positive effect on performance in all funds. The study concluded that increase in fund size increases performance. The study recommends that capital market authority should monitor performance of unit trusts constantly and in addition develop merger policies to encourage small unit trust to merge in order to take advantage of economies of scale.
    VL  - 9
    IS  - 1
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Department of Finance and Accounting, School of Business, Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya

  • Department of Finance and Accounting, School of Business, Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya

  • Department of Finance and Accounting, School of Business, Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya

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