CBK starts return of suspended Somali money transfer firms’ licences

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has started returning licences to money transfer firms that were banned after the deadly attack on Garissa University in April and whose names were on a list of 85 entities with alleged links to Somalia’s Al Shabaab.

Dahabshiil Kenya on Monday said the Central Bank of Kenya had allowed it to resume operations.

The Business Daily could not by the time of going to Press confirm the fate of 12 other firms whose permits had been suspended.

The reinstatement of the licence comes a week after President Uhuru Kenyatta ordered CBK to lift the ban on the 13 firms. Mr Kenyatta last week directed that the CBK issue comprehensive regulations to guide the operation of money transfer services, upon which their suspension should be lifted.

READ: Dahabshiil resumes operations after CBK lifts ban

The move to ban the 13 money remittance companies followed public pressure on the government for action after a deadly terror attack by the militants on the university where 148 people were killed.

The group has killed more than 400 people in Kenya in the last two years.

Dahabshiil said a review of operations by the CBK had found that the company observes strict anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing practices.

Humanitarian and rights groups had in April decried the ban on the services, saying it would have a devastating impact on Kenya’s Somali community, numbering just over one million people, as it is heavily reliant on cash from workers abroad.

“Our services provide a vital lifeline for people to feed, educate and otherwise help their families and loved ones, and to run businesses, thus creating jobs,” Abdirashid Duale, the company’s chief executive said.