Loans window opens for Chase Bank clients
Customers being served at the Chase Bank head office branch in Nairobi on April 27, 2016 on reopening under the management of Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB). PHOTO | SALATON NJAU | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
The resumption of the services will mean that all Chase Bank products will be accessible to its customers by mid this week.
Chase Bank’s 57 branches re-opened last Wednesday under the management of KCB Group, working with Kenya Deposit Insurance Corporation.
The regulator on April 7, 2016 unexpectedly placed it under receivership owing to liquidity problems created by a run on the mid-sized lender from panicked depositors.
Chase Bank customers will be able to access loans and other payments beginning tomorrow, KCB Group CEO Joshua Oigara has said.
Mr Oigara said on Monday in an interview that the resumption of the services will mean that all Chase Bank products will be accessible to its customers by mid this week.
“Cheques have been cleared by the Kenya Bankers Association and they will begin running from Wednesday. They will come together with the RTGS. And then during the month we need to look at the loans for smaller medium enterprises. There were facilities, which were there, we need to find a way to get them back running. All other services are available. These are the two things pending,” said Mr Oigara.
Chase Bank’s 57 branches re-opened last Wednesday under the management of KCB Group, working with Kenya Deposit Insurance Corporation.
The regulator on April 7, 2016 unexpectedly placed it under receivership owing to liquidity problems created by a run on the mid-sized lender from panicked depositors.
The bank’s halls reopened last week with services such as mobile banking app Mfukoni, online banking, ATM services and debit card transactions going live.
Others such as electronic funds transfer, credit cards, loan applications, overdraft, forex trading, foreign currency accounts, issuance of letters of credit and guarantees, however, had remained unavailable as the new receiver manager took charge of operations.
Mr Oigara said in the interview that the receiver-manager was exploring modalities to have the larger depositors access their money “as soon as possible.”
“We are looking at the month of May. I already met a number of the large depositors last week. By mid of May we will be able to have a better timetable on when they can access their money. This remains my biggest priority,” said Mr Oigara on phone.
Withdrawals had been capped at Sh1 million of deposits, following the reopening, meaning that only 167,290 account holders (equivalent to 97 per cent) of total depositors have full access to their savings.
Those with more than Sh1 million would receive their money “in a structured manner” in future, the Central Bank of Kenya had earlier said.
