The bank was placed under receivership in March 2016 after experiencing liquidity difficulties leading to a loss of Sh686 million for the financial year 2015/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 12 – SBM Holdings Limited will complete the acquisition of select Chase Bank assets and deposits by August 17th, unlocking billions of shillings in customer deposits held at the bank after the lender was put under receivership in 2016.
Through its Kenyan subsidiary, SBM Kenya, the Mauritius-based financial services group will assume 75 per cent of the value of deposits under moratorium at Chase Bank.
SBM Kenya will also absorb all non-moratorium deposits at Chase Bank as wells as most branches and employees, with large depositors getting 50 per cent of their money immediately the transaction is finalized.
The remaining 50 per cent will be placed in interest-earning term deposits to be accessed equally over a period of three years
The bank collapsed with over Sh100 billion in customer deposits, but the receiver manager settled savings of customers that had deposits of up to Sh1 million.
Three per cent of Chase Bank clients had over Sh1 million in their accounts by the time the troubled lender was taken over by the Kenya Deposit Insurance Corporation.
SBM Group Chairman Kee Chong Li said the completion of the transaction will enable the SBM Group to grow inorganically, taking SBM Kenya from a tier 3 bank to a strong tier 2 bank within a year of its creation.
“It’s a moment of great pride for our Group, as this move will enable us to increase our market share on the Kenya market and allow us to grow from a small to a medium-sized bank. Our objective now is to unfold our capacity so that we can deliver to the best of our ability in the Kenyan market.
Meanwhile, KCB Bank Kenya is set to exit the management of Chase Bank at the end of this month following SBM Group’s winning bid to take over Chase Bank.
KCB Kenya had been retained by KDIC as receiver-manager of Chase Bank.
