The Central Bank of Kenya has said that it is working closely with the Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) over allegations that some banks were involved in the National Youth Service scandal.
“The CBK is working closely with the Director of Criminal Investigations and other investigative agencies on this case,” said Dr. Patrick Njoroge, the Governor of the CBK.
Dr. Njoroge’s sentiments come in the wake of the nine billion shilling scandal facing the National Youth Service and where some banks have been accused of letting suspects transact through them.
The Governor says that the banks that have been involved in the latest NYS Scandal deliberately flawed the banking regulations.
“It is unconscionable that such losses of public funds would take place in this day and age. It has caused a loss in public trust,” said the Governor.
About the economy, Dr. Njoroge says that in 2017, the economic growth was at 4.9 percent saying that the economy was resilient to both the droughts and elections.
In other market news:
Secondary market turnover
Secondary market turnover picked up slightly to 2.94 billion shillings from a prior 2.89 billion shillings.
Activity was mainly on the 6 to 10-year space where market interest has been concentrated. The regulator is yet to announce a TAP Sale on this month’s primary bond issue.
The latter is an indicator of banks’ accumulation of available-for-sale government securities as they wait for clarity on the interest rate cap law.
The interbank rate declined to 5.43 percent with increased volume. The Kenyan shilling fell to 101.57 as end-month dollar demand impacted on the local unit.
Standard Chartered Bank
Standard Chartered Bank Kenya released 1Q18 financial results reporting EPS of 5.23 shillings marking a 10.5% y/y decline.
Net Interest Income grew 4.5 percent y/y, spurred by Interest income growth of 7.7% y/y to 6.8 billion shillings.
The growth was supported by interest from government securities which grew 31.0 y/y to 3.1 billion shillings.
Interest income from loans and advances declined 6.0 percent y/y as the lender’s loan book growth narrowed to 2.6 percent in the period.
Non-interest revenue (NIR) grew 6.5 percent y/y to 2.3 billion shillings mainly uplifted by other fees and commissions which grew 27.0 percent y/y.
The cost to income ratio worsened to 61.0 percent (55.6% in 1Q17) exacerbated by 15.4% y/y growth in operating expenses. Loan loss provisions grew by 37.9 percent y/y to 1.1 billion shillings owing to IFRS 9 adjustments.