Equity to refund Dyer& Blair over Sh20m paid out to fraudster

Equity Bank has lost a protracted court battle with Dyer and Blair Investment Bank after the court directed it to refund over Sh20 million that was fraudulently transferred from one of its client’s account [...]

Banks struggle to meet statutory reserve ratios

Banks mandatory deposits with the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) last week fell below the prescribed levels by Sh15 billion as cash became difficult to tap from the market. The banks fell below the cash reserve requirement (CRR) of 5.25 per cent or Sh122.8 billion which is the portion of total deposits they must surrender to the regulator as part of effort to maintain market confidence [...]

KCB to sign Ole Sereni Hotel funding deal

The Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) is Tuesday set to sign a multi-million shilling deal to finance expansion of Ole Sereni Hotel in Nairobi. Ole Sereni Hotel will use the KCB loan to develop another outlet to take advantage of the growing demand driven by business travel and conferencing [...]

KRA orders young firms to file manual tax returns by 30^th

Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has given non-operating companies up to the end of this month to file manual tax returns, after which only online returns will be accepted. Filers of returns will be expected to use the itax system – the online tax payment and filing system – if they have “nil” returns payable after April. In the notice last Friday, the KRA said taxpayers needed to update their details in the itax systems so as to easily gain access in order to file returns after this month [...]

Renaissance to steer MTN Rwanda part owner’s issue

Renaissance Capital (Rencap) has been appointed lead transaction advisor in the upcoming Initial Public Offering of Crystal Telecom, set to become Rwanda’s third listed firm. Crystal Telecom, a one-fifth owner of MTN Rwanda, is wholly owned by Crystal Ventures Ltd who said in a statement the IPO will be carried out before the end of this quarter. It did not disclose the size of stake in the telco to be offloaded [...]

Mandatory licence rule for technicians

Engineering technologists and technicians will be compelled to obtain licences before they can practice if a new Bill becomes law. The Engineering Technologists and Technicians Bill 2015 outlines the requirements to be fulfilled when applying for a practising licence. An Engineering Technologists and Technicians Registration Board will be established to, among other things, issue licences to qualified persons [...]

Competition agency says tea marketer’s court case premature

The competition watchdog has termed as premature the case filed by the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) over a draft report reviewing the status of the sector. The Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) is seeking orders to stop adoption of report by Deloitte. The report indicates prevalence of cartels and price manipulation at the tea auction that cut farmers’ earnings and accused KTDA of a near monopoly status, saying its ownership wards off possible competition [...]

Airtel in deal with British Airways to give flyers discount

Airtel Kenya has partnered with British Airways to reward its heavy spenders with a 25 per cent discount on air tickets for flights from Nairobi to the United Kingdom, North America and Europe. Under the partnership, close to 64,000 Airtel premier subscribers (postpaid and prepaid) who spend between Sh5,000 to Sh20,000 monthly on airtime and data purchases are eligible for the discount, which will be valid for all bookings made until May 31, 2015 [...]