Category: East Africa
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Kenya:Fasten your belt, cheaper loans will come at high cost
Before President Uhuru Kenyatta took his chair at State House Nairobi to sign the controversial Bill capping interest rates on Wednesday, he took time to explain to the public why he had taken the unorthodox step of taking Kenya’s financial services sector back to a price controls regime. Commercial banks had only waged propaganda war…
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Kenya:Bank stocks lose Sh47bn on first day of trading after loan caps
Banking stocks Thursday came under a heavy battering at the Nairobi bourse as investors reassessed their positions in the sector following Wednesday’s signing into law of a new Bill capping interest rates. The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) slid further down the bearish slope that wiped out a total of Sh106 billion in investor wealth, nearly…
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Kenya takes lion’s share of Japanese funding in region
Relations between Nairobi and Tokyo date back to 1963 when Kenya attained independence from British colonial rule. Japan, known as ‘Land of the Rising Sun’, opened her diplomatic mission in Nairobi in 1964. Kenya in turn set up an embassy in Tokyo in 1979. Over time, Kenya – Japan bilateral ties have grown and now…
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Tullow raises Kenya’s oil export hopes with March 2017 production date
British oil firm Tullow on Wednesday raised Kenya’s hopes of becoming an oil exporting country after it officially announced plans to start producing oil from Turkana in March next year. Tullow Oil chief operating officer Paul McDade told President Uhuru Kenyatta at State House Nairobi that it will initially produce 2,000 barrels of crude oil…
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Rise of Kenyan-born economist to India central bank top job stokes controversy
The recent appointment of Kenyan-born Urjit Patel as the governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has stoked controversy over his roots even as those who know him celebrated in Nairobi. Some have criticised him for being ‘less Indian’ than his predecessor Raghuram Rajan whose term ends on September 4. “Patel, perhaps, is far…
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Kenya:Pamoja Capital-led investors get Genghis takeover approval
A consortium of investors led by the regional corporate advisory firm Pamoja Capital Ltd has received regulatory approval to take over investment bank Genghis Capital Ltd at an undisclosed price. The shares will be sold by Zafrullah Khan, the former chairman of the troubled lender Chase Bank, and his co-owners. The new investors will acquire the entire…
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Kenya:M-Pesa agents commissions rise 19pc on strong customer growth
M-Pesa agents’ commissions rose by nearly a fifth last year to Sh14.6 billion, driven by an increase in the money transfer subscribers. The agents contracted by Safaricom earned 19.6 per cent more commissions compared to 2015 when they chalked up Sh12.2 billion. The commissions earned by Safaricom M-Pesa agents are just about equivalent to what…
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Kenya:Three-year bank audit plan masks underlying issues
The three-year term limits proposed by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) for auditors of banks is a clear response to corporate governance concerns and as an auditor, I support the objective of improving the quality and independence of their reports. However, I do not think that mandatory auditor rotation on a three-year basis for…
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Kenya:Equity’s half-year profit up by 18pc to Sh10bn amid cuts in lending
Equity Group on Monday reported an 18 per cent growth in after-tax profit in the half-year ended June as it cut ordinary lending in favour of buying government securities. The Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed firm’s net profit in the period stood at Sh10.1 billion compared to Sh8.6 billion the year before. The lender’s loan book shrunk…
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Kenya:Growth of mobile banking boosts Co-op Bank’s earnings
Increased mobile and internet banking helped Co-operative Bank of Kenya increase its pretax profit in the first half of 2016 by 19 percent to 10.45 billion shillings ($103.08 million), the lender said on Wednesday. The bank, which has its roots in the country’s vibrant co-operative movement and also operates in South Sudan, said 87 percent…