National Bank boss not aware of merger plan

The National Bank management on Wednesday said it has not been briefed on any merger plans with its State-owned rival Consolidated Bank.

The Standard Group on Tuesday quoted Treasury secretary Henry Rotich as saying that National Bank would be merged with another bank before its planned rights issue.

Chief executive Munir Ahmed, however, said on Wednesday NBK has already submitted its rights issue prospectus to the Capital Markets Authority for approval.

“We are not aware of such kind of plans and we happened to read it in the newspaper just like anybody else and nothing has been communicated to us on the said merger,” said Mr Ahmed.

He spoke when he signed a partnership between the lender and the PesaPoint ATM platform. Under the new arrangement, cardholders from all other PesaPoint partner institutions can now use any National Bank ATMs across the country to transact.

“As we continue with our transformation agenda, we are strategically leveraging on innovation and technology to expand the scope and reach of the distribution network,’’ said Mr Ahmed.

Customers will have access to over 1,000 ATMs belonging to Pesapoint and its partners.

Last year, NBK also signed another partnership with Postbank and Kenswitch that allows its customers to transact through 800 Postbank agents and 99 branches across the country, giving easier access to the lender.

The government is the biggest shareholder of National Bank controlling about 79 per cent shares comprising of Treasury and NSSF stakes.