Browsing: Central Bank of Kenya

The Central Bank of Kenya added that all countries in the region needed to participate in flattening the multi-layered correspondent banking structure and shortening the payment chains for a digital currency to work.

The development of CBDCs has been on the rise. According to a 2021 survey of central banks by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), 86 per cent of central banks are in the process of researching the potential for CBDCs, 60 per cent are experimenting on them, and 14 per cent were deploying pilot projects.

The CBK has maintained the cryptocurrency ban and has not issued a digital currency due to concerns about the risks of a CBDC.…

This comes after the National Treasury exempted the digital lender from a law limiting individual shareholding in microfinance to 25 per cent.

In a gazette notice signed by the Cabinet Secretary National Treasury, Ukur Yatani, the San-Francisco based fintech has been exempted from Section 19 of the Microfinance Act (for 4 years through 2025).

Currently, individuals or single entities are barred from holding more than a 25 per cent stake in a microfinance institution.…

The CBK has also issued circulars to local commercial banks warning them against dealing with cryptocurrencies transactions or face penalties for non-compliance.

The last circular was issued in 2018 and has remained in action up until now.

While delivering the monetary policy announcement where the monetary policy committee retained the base lending rate at seven per cent for the 12th time, Dr Patrick said that their position had not changed on any of the crypto products in the market.…

Microfinance institutions are trying to cope with the changing times as the market is moving to fast delivering digital systems of money transfer.

Chinese investors in lending apps

A couple of lending apps in Kenya cannot be mentioned without referring to Yahui Zhou, the chief executive of Kunlun Tech. Company Limited.

Zhou is famous for two things; his gaming company and his very expensive divorce settlement; he gave his ex-wife shares of Kunlun Tech worth US$1.1 billion.…

• Central Bank of Kenya has liquidated Imperial Bank of Kenya which was placed under receivership in October 2015
• The bank’s regulator said liquidation was the only feasible option, adding that it was acting in the interest of the general public
• Imperial Bank was placed under receivership, after CBK discovered massive fraud committed by its leadership through illegal deals, milking the bank at least KSh 34 billion

Kenya’s Central Bank has approved the complete shutting down of a bank that was placed under receivership five years ago.

On Thursday, December 6, Central Bank distributed a press release informing the general public that it was closing down Imperial Bank of Kenya Limited in Receivership (IBLIR) bank, seeing that it was the only feasible option.

The liquidation of Imperial Bank now sets the stage for the sale of its remaining assets.

After the bank went under, Central Bank placed it under the receivership …

Yet for SME and corporate lending, credit decisions remain an extended process as information is gathered manually and appraised over, sometimes, weeks, to establish the creditworthiness of the borrower.

The need to abandon such cumbersome processes has recently seen leading banks adopt technology, such as our CreditQuest, to automate credit origination, and manage credit workflow, appraisals, documents, customer ratings and credit decisions.

This kind of technology draws all current and historical credit data onto a unified platform, giving the bank’s analysts a true single customer view of credits and collaterals.…

In Africa’s metropolises, you don’t have to be rich to wear Gucci Armani or Prada, no sir, it is common place to see women in the slums carrying Dolce Gabbana handbags.

In fact there is a prominent saying across most all of Africa’s urban centres like Dar es Salaam and Nairobi “…everyone looks good in mtumba.”

Mtumba, is Swahili slang for second hand clothes, and Africa is one of the world’s leading importers of second hands, from caps, t-shirts and shirts, to pants and shorts all the way to bras and women underwear, yes second hand bras and underway are big business.

‘East Africa imported $151 million worth of used clothes and shoes in 2015, mostly from Europe and the U.S.’ And ‘At least 70 percent of donated garments end up in Africa’ – Oxfam.

What is strange here is that, Africa does not want to import these used items …