Central Bank of Kenya receives more than five offers for Chase Bank

Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich, Central Bank of Kenya Governor Dr. Patrick Njoroge and Kenya Bankers Association Chief Executive Officer Habil Osaka adressing the press at KICC on the situation of Banking sector in the country after Chase Bank was put under receivership. ON 08/04/16 PHOTO: JENIPHER WACHIE

The Central Bank (CBK) is evaluating more than five offers from potential local and foreign suitors for Chase Bank Kenya Ltd, placed under receivership last week, Governor Patrick Njoroge has said.

CBK were forced to step in with emergency support to stem depositor panic after the collapse last week of Chase Bank, the third lender to be placed under statutory management since August last year. A run on Chase Bank, which was Kenya’s 11th largest at the time it was placed into receivership on April 7, gathered pace as the lender’s chairman and group managing director resigned shortly after announcing restated earnings with a qualified audit opinion.

The most important objective is to re-open Chase Bank, Njoroge told reporters in Nairobi yesterday. Regulators had no choice but to isolate Chase Bank and appoint caretakers to protect the company from its creditors and manage it back to health, he said, adding that the lender had not provided auditors with sufficient data on non-performing loans.

A liquidity support facility provided by the CBK, with tenures from seven days to four weeks, has helped to calm markets, Njoroge said. No lenders have used the facility yet, although many are keen to understand how it works, he said.

CBK will not take over any lenders and banks should look to natural consolidation, Njoroge said.

Mergers and acquisitions are inevitable in the $61 billion economy, where 42 banks serve 44 million people, compared with 22 banks in Nigeria, which has a population of 180 million and gross domestic product nine times bigger, according to Cytonn Investments Management Ltd.