Co-op Bank sees Sh1.8bn boost after McKinsey reforms

The Co-operative Bank estimates that it will get a Sh1.8 billion profit boost from cost savings and operating efficiencies resulting from last year’s restructuring that led to 160 staff layoffs. Co-op Bank says the restructuring process which it completed in December at a one-off cost of Sh1.34 billion is set to give it the boost needed in the race to catch up with its peers [...]

NSE 20-share index loses 5.5pc over capital gains tax dilemma

The NSE-20 Share Index has lost 5.5 per cent since the beginning of the year over what brokers and analysts say are uncertainties surrounding the implementation of the capital gains tax (CGT). The index stood at 4835.75 points on Wednesday compared to 5117.43 at the beginning of the year. In a social media comment, Dyer and Blair Investment Bank chairman Jimnah Mbaru said that investors were moving out of the Kenyan stock market to Egypt and Nigeria [...]

Cytonn real estate fund seeks Sh10bn

Cytonn Investments Management plans to raise Sh10 billion equity from global and institutional investors through its real-property fund. Apart from the Cytonn Real Estate Fund (CREF) capital, the firm says it intends to raise an additional Sh40 billion from pension funds, debt and banks. Up to Sh10 billion of this would come from pensions while the other Sh30 billion is debt in form of bonds and bank credit [...]

APA launches health, job loss and life cover

APA Insurance has launched a job loss, health and life cover targeting low-income earners as insurers battle for the uninsured segments of the society. The insurer has launched Linda Salo in association with Citadel Micro Insurance, an agency providing insurance cover to peri-urban and rural communities with low access to insurance cover [...]

Stima sacco goes digital with mobile phone loans

Stima Sacco’s 36,000 members will access savings and loans on their mobile phones following the launch of the M-Pawa service. The mobile software application will allow the sacco members to access their money at the click of a button. M-Pawa has been on a pilot trial for two months. It has recorded Sh35 million transactions of which Sh30 million are in form of loans advanced to subscribers [...]

Power surge disrupts StanChart ATM and online banking services

Standard Chartered customers experienced service disruptions on Tuesday and part of Wednesday attributed to a power surge at its head office system servers in Nairobi. StanChart's ATMs, mobile and online banking as well as credit card services went offline until 10pm on Tuesday night, with intermittent interruptions on Wednesday morning but were restored by the afternoon [...]