Parliament rejects bid to raise bank capital

National assembly has rejected a proposal by the finance ministry to increase the minimum core capital for banks to Sh5 billion, saying it would stifle the sector’s growth, the head of parliament’s budget committee said.

In his budget speech in June, Finance Minister Henry Rotich proposed increasing the minimum core capital requirement for banks progressively from Sh1 billion to Sh5 billion shillings by December 2018.