1.  Taxpayers to foot Sh420m railway repair bill

The Rift Valley Railways has secured government commitment to pay a Sh420 million bill it slapped the Kenya Railways with as compensation for damage of the railway line at the height of the post-poll violence.

This means taxpayers will foot the bill of repairing the railway line being run by a private company. In early 2008, youths from Nairobi’s Kibera slums uprooted sections of the Kenya Uganda Railway line, cutting off the two countries for several weeks.- Business Daily

 2. Treasury under fire over billions spent in service of phony debts

The Treasury has continued to spend billions of taxpayer funds to service questionable debts that the government incurred more than 30 years ago with nothing to show for it.  The latest report by the Controller of Budget says billions of shillings were in the past 12 months used to service debts despite there being no evidence that the money borrowed was used to finance any project.

Top in the list of questionable loans on which the Treasury has spent billions of shillings is a fertilizer factory debt that was incurred in 1978 but for which the country has nothing to show. - Business Daily

3.Noose tightens around money laundering

Companies with nominee shareholders have been blacklisted as ‘high risk’ with regard to money laundering activities.

Non-resident customers, politically exposed persons and companies related to them as well as customers from locations known for high crime rates will also face thorough vetting before being allowed to open accounts or trade in securities. The latest are part of the new guidelines meant to prevent, detect, report and control money laundering. According to the draft guidelines, all customers shall be subjected to a full range of due diligence to determine risks attached to them and their business relationship. - The Standard

4. Women aspirants to pay Sh250,000

Swiss software firm SOFGEN is eyeing Kenya’s lucrative financial sector with a core banking cloud computing system. The system was developed by US firm Microsoft Corporation. The firm, established in 1999, has just introduced Temenos T24 Cloud Platform in the Kenyan market but it has provided solutions for a number of local financial institutions including Kenya Commercial Bank, K-RepBank, Kenya Women Finance Trust, and Commercial Bank of Africa.

The new service largely targets microfinance institutions (MFIs), deposit taking microfinance institutions (DTM), and Saccos. - Business Daily

7. Foreign varsities step up recruitment in Kenya

Foreign universities, mainly from the United Kingdom (UK) and Canada, have stepped up the marketing of their institutions in Kenya, focusing on students with immigration and financial requirements to study abroad. - Business Daily

8. Express plans Sh1.06 billion rights issue

Clearing and forwarding firm Express Kenya is planning to raise Sh1.06 billion through a rights issue to fund its business improvement strategies.

As part of special business in the next annual general meeting, shareholders are expected to discuss and consider increasing the company’s paid up share capital from Sh177 million to Sh1.23 billion by way of a rights issue of six shares for every one share held.

If passed and approved by the Capital Markets Authority, the move will lead to the creation of an additional 206.8 million shares.- Daily Nation