The revelation by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) that it received requests from 16 banks to raise fees on products, both existing and new—and turned down requests from 13 —is startling. Indeed, this latest disclosure further concretises my belief that banks are increasingly becoming reluctant to adjust to the Banking (Amendment) Act, 2016.
Instead, they are choosing to spin around like the proverbial athlete who just wouldn’t throw the discus. I mean, they’ve been grooving around: branch closures, opening of voluntary early retirement windows and seeking to escalate product fees.
