When Centum was buying K-Rep Bank, they did not have an idea Kenya will be hit by a series of banking collapses, a law capping interest rates and a new risk-based lending model that would make the micro-loan market they were targeting unviable.
Centum had 1.8 percent stake in K-Rep and exposure in Platinum microfinance and they figured a bank with a strong chama (business club) customers such as K-Rep could offer immense potential in lending to the bottom of the market at very attractive rates.
