NSE-listed firms to reveal reasons for exit of board members in new code

Companies listed on the Nairobi bourse will now have to disclose the reasons behind the exit of their board members and top managers such as chief executives and chief finance officers, as per fresh rules gazetted by the capital markets regulator. CMA has set the rule in a bid to improve management transparency at Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed firms. About a dozen executives at NSE-listed firms have quit the companies they led after facing allegations [...]

Equity freezes regional expansion plans to boost existing markets

Equity Bank has shelved its regional expansion plans announced last year with the management saying it was instead reinvesting in existing markets. Equity Bank had raised Sh20 billion from shareholders for the plan which saw it enter the Democratic Republic of Congo and also targeted entry into Burundi and Ethiopia by end of this year. The largest bank by customers in the country had raised Sh20 billion from shareholders for the plan which saw it enter the Democratic Republic of Congo [...]

KQ's Sh2.5bn staff housing row goes to court

A real estate firm has renewed its fight against 312 employees of national carrier Kenya Airways (KQ) over a Sh2.5 billion housing scheme. Epco Builders is seeking to quash an arbitrator’s ruling that denied the developer the right to increase prices of the housing units above the cost indicated in the initial sale agreements [...]

CMA allows driving licence use for share accounts opening

The Capital Markets Authority (CMA) has become the first financial sector regulator to allow use of the driving licence as an official identification document. An investor in the stock market has to open an account with the Central Depository and Securities Corporation where equities are digitally accounted for when they trade [...]

CMA caps tenures of board members

Independent directors of listed firms will serve for a maximum of nine years following the introduction of a new code of conduct by the Capital Markets Authority (CMA). Previously, such directors could serve for unlimited number of years as long as they received support of the shareholders. On expiry of the nine years a director has to exit or be converted to a non-independent director, since a long tenure is seen as impairing objective oversight [...]

Kenya’s mining sector attractiveness slightly up, shows global report

The local mining sector’s attractiveness has slightly improved, according to the latest survey by Canadian think-tank Fraser Institute. The Fraser Institute 2015 survey has ranked Kenya 103 out of 109 jurisdictions that were covered [...]

KCB targets small firms in Sh50bn training plan

KCB Group has launched a Sh10 billion-a-year scholarship scheme to benefit 500,000 small-scale entrepreneurs over the next five years in sectors like construction, beauty, hospitality, agriculture and mechanics. KCB expects to trigger 2.5 million new jobs through the 2Jiajiri programme [...]

Posta CEO and board wrangles to cost Sh1bn

Persistent internal conflicts between the Postal Corporation of Kenya (PCK) board and its management could cost the State agency up to Sh1 billion in lost business opportunities. The relationship between postmaster-general Enock Kinara and the board turned sour after former ICT Secretary Fred Matiang’i extended his tenure at [...]

CBA eyes Kirinyaga Road spare part dealers

CBA has opened a branch along Nairobi’s Kirinyaga Road targeting motor vehicle spare part dealers. This choice of location is especially uncharacteristic for CBA, which has positioned itself as a bank that caters to “large corporations, institutions, diplomatic missions, NGOs and high net-worth private clients”, as per information on its website [...]