Resolving the African Financial Development Gap Cross Country Comparisons and a Within Country Study of Kenya

This paper assesses whether African financial development is slower than it ought to be by using other developing countries as a benchmark. It identifies factors that have more pronounced impact on financial development in Africa than in other developing countries, using both country-and firm-level data sets. It further aims to examine the impact of Equity Bank, along with other commercial banks, on financial access at the household level in Kenya.