CBK kicks off new payment of Imperial Bank deposits installments
Imperial Bank depositors protest outside the lender's headquarters on Westlands Road, Nairobi in the past. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP.
What you need to know:
Kenya Deposit Insurance Corporation (KDIC) will immediately pay verified depositors up to a maximum of 10 per cent of their balances.
Depositors will get the funds through NIC Bank as was the case with second disbursement in July this year.
Imperial Bank customers were initially allowed to withdraw up to Sh1 million when the lender first opened under the management of KCB and DTB.
Some 44,300 customers of the collapsed bank with Sh1 million or less, who accounted for 89 per cent of the depositors, were allowed full access to their money in the first phase of the payouts through the two banks.
Large depositors of the collapsed Imperial Bank are set to receive the third payment of deposits from Kenya’s deposit insurer, it was announced Wednesday.
Kenya Deposit Insurance Corporation (KDIC) will immediately pay verified depositors up to a maximum of 10 per cent of their balances.
“Verified depositors will be able to access additional funds of up to a maximum of 10 per cent of their remaining deposits, subject to a minimum of Sh200,000 or the actual deposit amount for balances below Sh200,000,” said a Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) in a statement.
Depositors will get the funds through NIC Bank as was the case with second disbursement in July this year.
The move comes as some relief for Imperial Bank depositors particularly small business owners who have suffered from the long wait for their money, having lost their working capital in the lockdown even as the receiver managers demanded they continue servicing the loans. It, however, dims hopes of its reopening for the shareholders.
The depositors, who are mostly business people, were allowed to withdraw up to Sh1.5 million from their accounts during the second phase of the payment plan.
Imperial Bank customers were initially allowed to withdraw up to Sh1 million when the lender first opened under the management of KCB and DTB.
Some 44,300 customers of the collapsed bank with Sh1 million or less, who accounted for 89 per cent of the depositors, were allowed full access to their money in the first phase of the payouts through KCB and DTB.
The second phase of the deposit repayment in August saw depositors withdraw Sh3 billion in the two weeks following the bank’s reopening under NIC Bank.
NIC managing director John Gachora at the time said more than 5,000 customers had opened claim accounts with the bank since July 27.
“We have disbursed about Sh3 billion so far, opened over 5,000 accounts and continue to offer close support to depositors of Imperial Bank Limited in Receivership (IBLIR),” Mr Gachora said in August.
Once the additional Sh1.5 million was paid out through NIC, it was expected that 1,400 customers would be added to the list of those with full access to their savings, taking the total to 45,700 or 92 per cent of all Imperial Bank’s depositors.
Mr Gachora then said the funds being used to pay depositors in the second phase of the payment plan came from the liquidation of Imperial Bank’s Treasury Bills, as per the plan agreed with shareholders.
The CBK closed Imperial Bank on October 13, 2015, following discovery of massive fraud at the mid-tier lender, which at the time held Sh58 billion in customer deposits.
The CBK and KDIC appointed NIC to steer the refund process, with the ultimate goal of taking over some deposits, assets and liabilities of Imperial bank.
