Central Bank of Kenya |

Kenya Rate-Cap Champion Unmoved as Banks Pledge to Boost Lending

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – The Kenyan lawmaker who spearheaded legislation that placed a limit on the interest rates banks can charge is ready to block efforts from the regulator, Treasury and the industry to scrap the rules. “We have not seen any change in the banks, in fact it’s more of grandstanding: ‘if you remove the caps, we give the loans,’” Jude Njomo said in an interview in the capital, Nairobi, on Monday. “Right now,…

Kenyan Central Bank Agrees to SBM’s Offer for Chase Bank

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NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenya’s central bank said it agreed to a deal in which SBM Holdings Ltd., the second-biggest lender in Mauritius, will purchase some assets of distressed Chase Bank Ltd. The offer will ensure the transfer of 75 percent of the value of deposits that had been locked in receivership and the retention of staff and branches of Chase Bank, which went under in April 2016. The lender has been under the…

Kenya’s Biggest Bank Sees Rate Caps Staying Until at Least 2019

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NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenya’s biggest bank reckons limits on interest-rate charges that have weighed on profit will be around for at least another year. “There are a lot of conversations happening and I have not seen anything today that says that we are ready to move,” KCB Group Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Joshua Oigara said in an interview in the capital, Nairobi, last week. Even the bank’s best-case scenario is that a review process of the…

Kenyan Central Bank Moves to Ease Investors’ Vote Concerns

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NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenya’s central bank is communicating a sense of normalcy and continuity to investors amid uncertainty about the country’s protracted elections, Governor Patrick Njoroge said. Institutions including the nation’s courts show Kenya is a “mature” democracy, Njoroge said in an interview with Bloomberg TV in London on Tuesday. While liquidity in the country’s money markets is tight at the moment, it has “nothing to do with the political circumstances,” he said. Central…

Kenyan Politics Limbo Hinders Central Bank on Currency Risk

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NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – On Monday, Kenya’s central bank may have little choice but to do what the rest of the country is stuck with: waiting for a rerun of its presidential election. With political limbo reigning since the Supreme Court’s annulment of the previous attempt at a national vote on Aug. 8, officials are left contemplating the effects of prolonged uncertainty on an economy that also faces slowing growth and persistent inflation….

Kenya’s Central Bank Holds rate at 10.0 percent, Likely to Sell Dollars

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NAIROBI (Capital Markets In Africa) – At its Monetary Policy Committee meeting this month, Kenya’s central bank held its rate at 10.0 percent. Its Monetary Policy Committee will next meet to set lending rates on Sept.18. While the currencies of Kenya, Nigeria and Tanzania are expected to hold steady, traders said Uganda’s shilling and Zambia’s kwacha are forecast to weaken against the dollar in the next week to Thursday, while Ghana’s cedi will firm. KENYA…

Kenya Bond Rally Fueled by Investors Who Are Out of Options

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NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenya’s best bond rally in at least five years has less to do with faith in the sovereign than finding a place to hide. An index of the government’s local-currency debt has advanced for 68 straight days, the longest run since Bloomberg began tracking the data in 2012, as an increase in non-performing loans and high charges on investments by insurance companies outside of government debt boost demand for the bonds….

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