MERU, September 5 – The National Bank of Kenya (NBK) has set aside Sh345 million for an expansion program scheduled for the next one year.
The Bank’s Managing Director Reuben Marambii said the financial institution was experiencing a smooth run and was now engaged in expanding its network to reach more towns in the country.
Speaking in Meru where he hosted bank customers to a luncheon, Marambii said the institution was executing a three-year strategic plan aimed at seeing the bank open four new branches annually.
He explained that the money would also be used to renovate and improve existing branches.
The MD observed that the bank had already opened seven branches this year.
Marambii stated that NBK hoped to exceed the Sh1.1 billion profit it made last year.
He said ever since the government refunded Sh24 billion that had been owed to the bank by various parastatals, NBK has had excess liquidity.
“National Bank has so much money it doesn’t know what to do with it,” he told customers gathered at the Three Steers Hotel.
“The money which had accrued due to un-guaranteed loans by the parastatals was recovered after the Attorney General Amos Wako advised the bank to ask the Treasury to meet its moral obligation.”
He narrated that the bank had been struggling after incurring a record Sh4 billion loss in the mid-1990s, but in a neat spin was now extending loans that spanned up to 15 years.
The MD said his bank was financing farmers to buy machinery and schools to buy buses.
Marambii was accompanied on the tour of Meru by top officials of the bank, among them the Head of Human Resources Ismael Ali, and local manager Clement Mwangoe.
“We want to inspect the branches, re-assess ourselves and get feedback from the customers so that we can create tailor-made products for them,” he said.
