CBK hands Imperial Bank depositors an early Christmas

Imperial Bank head office at Westlands, Nairobi. [File, Standard]

Imperial Bank Ltd (IBL) customers have been handed a Christmas gift as they are expected to get access to 12.7 per cent of their cash through the Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB).

KCB, in turn, is set to lock in Imperial Bank depositors and invited claimants to open accounts with it.

“Depositors who will be claiming their funds for the first time through KCB Bank are required to open an account with any of the KCB Bank branches and shall complete a claim form with the assistance of the bank officials who will forward the same to IBL for processing,” Kenya Deposit Insurance Corporation (KDIC) said yesterday.

Those who had previously claimed part of their deposits through KCB are only required to counter check their account status with their respective branches.

Large depositors are coming to terms with the KCB offer which will trim billions of their deposits held for three years.

Massive shortfall

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) announced yesterday a 12.7 per cent payout that will leave several huge depositors with a massive shortfall.

CBK estimates that coupled up with previous payments, the money will clock 35 per cent.

The bulk of Imperial Bank customers were initially allowed to withdraw up to Sh1 million when the lender first opened under the management of KCB and Diamond Trust Bank.

NIC Bank was later given reigns of the lender and made two disbursements totalling Sh10.78 billion to over 5,500 depositors on behalf of KDIC.

“Combining this with earlier disbursements will result in a total recovery of approximately 35 per cent of the original eligible deposits held at the date of receivership,” Central Bank Governor Dr Patrick Njoroge said.