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Chase Bank’s large depositors to wait a while longer for their cash

Saturday May 21 2016
chase

Chase Bank on Mama Ngina Street in Nairobi. KCB took over the management of the bank in April. PHOTO | FILE

Large depositors who had their money locked up in Chase Bank will have to wait a little longer to access it, but new depositors continue to enjoy full access to their funds outside the $10,000 limit imposed by the new receiver managers KCB Bank Ltd, appointed by the Kenya Deposit Insurance Corporation.

Receiver manager Paul Russo said that depositors who had more than $10,000 before the bank was closed last month will have to wait for a decision to be made on when they will get access to the full amounts.

“Access will be in a structured manner, details of which will be released in the near future,” said Mr Russo, adding that new funds deposited from April 27 when the bank re-opened, are fully accessible.

Last week, the bank said it had successfully resumed operations of key banking services such as realtime gross settlements (RTGS) , electronic funds transfers, agency banking, trade finance, foreign exchange transactions and cheque clearance.

“The restoration of these services, with the support of KCB, marks yet another important milestone for Chase Bank, as it embarks on a phased implementation plan to normalise operations,” said the lender in a statement.

Chase Bank is also yet to restart loan processing for new applications as it seeks to recover the loan book.

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Mr Russo declined to reveal how much in loan recoveries had been achieved to date, only saying that they were making good progress.

“We have not resumed new loan services yet but have made available the normal channels for clients to meet their obligations,” he said.

It has also emerged that KCB has contracted an international firm to do a forensic audit on the lender’s books that will guide it towards acquiring the majority stake in the bank.

READ: Chase bank to retain identity, acquisition likely in October

KCB Group chief executive Joshua Oigara said that the forensic audit will be done within the receivership timeline so as to guide the lender on the true state of the bank’s books.

“We do not have a particular timeline when this audit will be complete, but yes, we have contracted an international forensic firm,” said Mr Oigara.

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