NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 28 – Imperial Bank depositors will be able to access their funds once the bank reopens in a month’s time.
Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) says the exact amount to be paid especially to small depositors will be communicated “at a later date”.
This was resolved on Wednesday during a special meeting chaired by Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) governor Patrick Njoroge. The meeting involved CBK, Kenya Deposit Insurance Corporation (KDIC) and some representatives from a cross-section of Imperial Bank Limited (IBL) depositors.
Njoroge has assured that the bank will be revived within a period of 30 days.
Interested shareholders who want to inject more funds have been advised to make deposit in hard cash at various bank accounts and not in any other form.
“The fraudulent activities have resulted in a significant shortfall in IBLs capital position. Nevertheless CBK and KDIC consider IBL to be viable and have examined options that will lead to promote reopening of the bank. These options require the shareholder to inject new capital to meet identified capital shortfall,” he said.
The governor has pledged to retain all the management staff who were not involved in the fraudulent activities that led to the collapse of the bank.
The entire board will however, be replaced and new members appointed, with a permanent seat for the CBK.
“The board will be replaced. There will be no shareholder directors. CBK will have a permanent board seat,” Njoroge said.
In August this year, the bank had issued a Sh2billion corporate bond, a situation which will now be handled by the Capital Markets Authority (CMA).
