The Kenya Bankers Association (KBA) has  said it will now host the live Chat session  “My Chat with a Bank CEO” on a quarterly basis during a month-long engagements featuring the various bank Chief Executive Officers.According to KBA, the bank Chief Executive Officers will tackle various topics related to banking over a period of four weeks.

The first event took place at 10am on November 8th and featured KBA Vice Chairman and Group Managing Director of NIC Bank, Mr. James Macharia. Other CEOs who have participated in the chat are Mr. Asad Ahmed, Managing Director of Gulf African Bank for the CEO Chat on November 15th at 2pm; and Mr. Tony Okpanachi, Regional Managing Director of Ecobank scheduled for the CEO Chat on November 21st at 10am.

During the sessions, the public will have the opportunity to be part of the conversation through comments and questions which will be responded to by the relevant CEO hosts.

Among the topics to be discussed during these sessions are: ‘banks and the capital markets’, ‘product innovation’, and ‘SME opportunities and challenges’. Other topics include ‘investment tips’ and ‘career advise’.

While commenting on the, KBA Chief Executive Officer Mr. Habil Olaka said the public should expect more of such forums as the Association works towards closer engagement with the banking stakeholders.

“We received very positive feedback from the initial CEO Chat with people visiting our Web site from not only Kenya but also Rwanda, the United States, Australia, and even South Korea,” said Mr. Olaka. “It is certainly a departure from the norm, and we hope it sends the message that banks are open and willing to communicate.

Olaka said that the information relayed through the conversations is critical in helping Kenyans to make informed banking decisions. Olaka added that CEO’s to participate in the inaugural KBA Chat event are: Mr. Richard Etemesi, CEO, Standard Chartered Bank (SCB); Mr. Martin Oduor-Otieno, CEO, KCB Bank.

Others included Mr. Frank Ireri , Managing Director, Housing Finance Company (HF); Mr. Isaac Awuondo, Group CEO, Commercial Bank of Africa (CBA); Mr. Abdulatif Essajee, Managing Director, First Community Bank; Mr. Sam Kimani, CEO, Jamii Bora Bank; and Mrs. Nasim Devji, Group CEO and Managing Director, Diamond Trust Bank (DTB).

Interested participants will need to visit and register on the KBA website www.kba.co.ke , where the chat sessions will be hosted.