Great News For Imperial Bank Depositors as KCB Fronts Acquisition Race

It is great news for depositors whose savings have been locked at the Imperial Bank since it was put under receivership in October 2015.

The race to buy the non-operational Imperial Bank is on and Kenya Commercial bank (KCB) is fronting after the bidder stepped down yesterday according to the Central Bank.

A joint statement from Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) and Kenya Deposit Insurance Corporation (KDIC) stated that the revised proposal was received from KCB Kenya while the other bidder had withdrawn from the process. Adding that CBK and KDIC will engage KCB in discussions aimed at maximizing the value for depositors.

Shortlisted candidates had been requested, late last year, to submit their formal proposals by 15^th of January 2018 by the regulator.

Imperial Bank was put under receivership after it was revealed that it was operating two sets of books, with a possible fraud of 44.9 billion shillings.

It was also alleged that shareholders had irregularly paid themselves 2.7 billion shillings as dividends while the bank was not making any profit.

Considering that CBK had planned to have the final transaction take place by the end of June, it is behind schedule for the acquisition of the bank.