Safaricom surrenders Sh500m to unclaimed assets agency

Safaricom has released money amounting to Sh500m which was held in inactive phone lines for more than two years to the unclaimed assets agency. This also includes unreplaced phone lines that had been lost and those belonging to people who have left the country. Dependents of the deceased persons can still claim the funds if they provide proof of death and an administration letter granting them powers over the deceased’s estate [...]

KRA, brokers talks on capital gains tax collapse

The Kenya Association of Stockbrokers and Investment Bankers (Kasib) which had sued the taxman over implementation of the capital gains tax has started negotiating with KRA to withdraw the suit. KRA on the other hand indicated last week that they were considering to suspend the law until the contentious sections of the Act are resolved [...]

Mumias Sugar suspends 52 top employees

The 52 employees were managers and supervisors in the company’s agriculture department who have been accused of causing the sugar miller loss by irregularly terminating the farmers’ cane supply contracts, making it difficult for the company to recover debts owed to it by the growers who had been advanced loans.  The suspended employees, who were cited in a forensic audit report by financial consulting firm KPMG, will face disciplinary action in line with the company’s code of conduct [...]

Capital gains tax row hits foreign inflows at NSE

January figures suggest that foreign inflows into the equities market have been affected by the uncertainty surrounding the implementation of the capital gains tax (CGT). According to data compiled by Standard Investment Bank Foreign, investors drew out a net of Sh283 million from the Kenyan stock market last month, which also had the lowest monthly total in two years and compares badly with Sh31 billion recorded in December 2014 [...]

Kisumu oil block estimated to hold 22m barrels

These estimates are according to Tullow Oil, which jointly owns the block with an Australian oil and gas explorer, Swala energy, and relates seismic work on Block 12B done in the last quarter of 2014. Analysts say while the estimate may be “fairly small” it is premature to make conclusions on whether the area could have commercially viable deposits. Swala plans to sell part of its interest to finance the drilling of the well estimated to cost between Sh1.8 billion and Sh2.29 billion [...]

Treasury bill auctions undersubscribed on tight liquidity

Government debt issues were undersubscribed across-the-board last week as tight liquidity hit the money markets. There were no bond redemptions in January, therefore denying some investors a source of inflows with which to invest in the market. Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) revealed that the Treasury bill auctions had bids amounting to about half of the offered amount, with investors adopting a wait-and-see attitude on rates. Commercial banks are also feeling the effect of a tight liquidity market [...]

Central Bank gives licence to new Dagoretti micro financier

Daraja, Dagoretti micro financier, has been granted a license by CBK and will be targeting micro and small enterprises as well as lending to the low income segment. Daraja MFB will also target salaried individuals and offer them security-free loans that will be deducted through the check-off system There are seven nationwide MFBs namely Faulu Kenya, SMEP, Remu, Rafiki, Kenya Women MFB, Century and Sumac. Two others are community-based — Uwezo and U&I. This raises the number of microfinance banks in Kenya to 10 [...]