Family Bank boss Thuku set to leave

Family Bank CEO David Thuku will leave in six months after three years at the helm of the lender. Dr Thuku replaced Peter Munyiri in June 2016, after the latter’s contract expired.

“The board of directors would like to announce that Dr David Thuku will be transitioning from the bank in six months’ time to pursue other personal interests,” said a statement from the bank sent to newsrooms on Tuesday.

Dr Thuku was an insider having served as Family Bank’s Director of Retail Banking since 2013 before he took over from Mr Munyiri who was CEO for five years.

Prior to joining the lender, Dr Thuku held several senior positions over a period of two decades at Standard Chartered Bank and Barclays Bank.

"We sincerely thank Dr Thuku for his immense contribution to the Family Bank journey and for overseeing the bank through a challenging season while steering it back to profitability.

“As a board, we would like to wish him all the best in his new endeavour," said Wilfred Kiboro, chairman of the board.

Mr Kiboro announced that Dr Thuku will continue serving as CEO until a substantive replacement is recruited and approved by the regulator.

The lender laid off 150 employees across its branches in December in cost-cutting efforts.

It also closed a couple of branches, stating that the move would save it Sh36 million annually. The bank posted a net loss of Sh743 million in the nine months to September 2017, compared to a net profit of Sh963 million in a similar period the previous year.

The mid-sized lender has 91 branches and posted 46 per cent net interest earnings to Sh2.94 billion in the nine months through September 2017 from Sh5.47 billion the previous year.

Its staff cost dropped by nearly a fifth or about Sh400 million to Sh1.6 billion in the period.