Top KCB executives replaced in management shake-up

The newly appointed chief information technology officer at KCB has been replaced in the latest executive shake-up at Kenya’s largest bank.

George Makiya, who was hired by the bank in February, was replaced for undisclosed reasons in changes that saw the bank announce three acting executives.

Charles Karugu will act as chief information technology officer, Gladys Biamah and Godfrey Mucheke have been appointed company secretary and head of audit respectively in an interim capacity, according to a Friday staff memo.

Dr Makiya was the first top executive to be hired by Joshua Oigara who became KCB’s chief executive in January and is looking for a new management team to guide the bank.

The Business Daily failed to establish the reasons behind the exit of Dr Makiya, who indicated in LinkedIn that he was “transitioning to a major bank CIO (chief information officer) position.”

Former company secretary Kiprop Malakwen and director of audit Fred Mutiso opted for the bank’s earlier retirement plan, prompting the lender to start an executive job search that will also fill the vacant positions of chief finance officer and managing director for its Kenyan business.

(Read: KCB completes executive shake-up with new hirings)

Mr Malakwen has served as company secretary since 1994 while Mr Mutiso has been in charge of the lender’s audit function since 2009 but joined KCB in 2001.

Mr Oigara is overseeing the second phase of restructuring at KCB that has led to the merger of a number of functions. Mr Oigara replaced Martin Oduor-Otieno in January as CEO, making him on the youngest chief executives among the NSE-listed companies.

Mr Oduor-Otieno shepherded the first phase of the bank’s reorganisation that led to a leaner executive team, fewer reporting channels and the exit of a number of executives including Peter Munyiri and Sam Kimani who are now heads of Family Bank and Jamii Bora Bank respectively.

The bank’s C-suite now consists of the chief business officer—Kenya, (now named managing director Kenya), chief financial officer and chief information technology officer who report to the chief executive officer.

Five directors in charge of credit, human resources, risk, corporate and regulatory affairs (a new position), and strategy will also report to the CEO.

The managing directors of the regional subsidiaries, who previously reported to a chief business officer, now also report to the group CEO.

KCB lost the position of Kenya’s most profitable lender to Equity Bank in the three months to March on reduced lending income. The bank’s net profit grew by a quarter to Sh3 billion in the period to March while that of Equity stood at Sh3.21 billion in the same quarter.