Co-op Bank taps former CBK executive John Murugu as board chair

What you need to know:

The top-tier lender on Thursday appointed John Murugu, who has previously worked at Treasury and CBK, to take over as chairman effective October 1, 2017.
The incoming chair served as the director of debt management at the Ministry of Finance, and has more than 25 years of banking experience at CBK where he rose through the ranks to be director in charge of bank supervision.

Co-operative Bank #ticker:COOP has tapped a former Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) executive to serve as its board chairman, highlighting the increased appetite for ex-public servants by listed companies.

The top-tier lender on Thursday appointed John Murugu, who has previously worked at Treasury and CBK, to take over as chairman effective October 1, 2017.

Long-serving Co-op Bank chairman Stanley Muchiri is retiring after attaining the mandatory age of 70, as per Capital Markets Authority code.

Mr Muchiri, 71, joined Co-op as a director in 1986 and served as chairman since 2002.

“The board has deeply appreciated Mr Muchiri’s transformational leadership of the bank and wished him the very best in all his future endeavours,” Co-op said in a regulatory filing.

25 years

The incoming chair served as the director of debt management at the Ministry of Finance, and has more than 25 years of banking experience at CBK where he rose through the ranks to be director in charge of bank supervision.

Mr Murugu, 66, joined Co-op’s board in May 2015 and is currently the of the lender’s board credit committee. He holds a Bachelor of Education Degree and Masters of Arts in Economics from the University of Nairobi.

Management experts reckon that listed as well as private firms routinely poach current and former top civil servants to boardrooms in order to benefit from their influence and extensive contacts in the public sector.

After serving at CBK, Mr Murugu was seconded to Treasury to spearhead public debt reforms.