KDIC to pay 85 percent of Charterhouse depositors in 30 days

Charterhouse Bank Limited at Longonot House along Kijabe street (PHOTO: David Gichuru)

About 85 per cent of the depositors of the collapsed Charterhouse Bank are set to be paid in the next 30 days.

The Kenya Deposit Insurance Corporation (KDIC) Chief Executive Officer Mohamud Mohamud said the insured depositors who are protected by law and owed Sh500,000 and below – make up the majority.

KDIC last year revised the coverage limit to Sh500,000 from Sh100,000 after over 30 years.

This means that in the event of a bank liquidation depositors will be paid a maximum of Sh500,000 and Charterhouse depositors are the second beneficiaries of the enhanced coverage after Chase Bank.

“Our immediate task as KDIC as per law is that within 30 days to commence the process of paying the protected deposits. 85 percent of depositors in Charterhouse have Sh500,000 and less and are the small depositors who are the ones that we are going to fully compensate.”

 “Those owed over Sh500,000 are not losing out but this bank has assets which we are going to trace, preserve and realise the assets for the best market value for their benefit,” said Mohamud.

The lender, which is linked to collapsed giant retailer Nakumatt, was in 2006 placed under statutory management by CBK over money laundering and tax evasion claims.

The regulator cited gross violations of the Banking Act regarding lending, the accuracy of information submitted to CBK and lack of account opening documentation for some customers.

KDIC was appointed the liquidator after the statutory manager recommended winding up the lender.

Before its collapse, CBK classified it as a small bank and ranked 30 out of 41. It had 428 loan accounts valued at Sh2.9 billion and 4,699 deposit accounts valued at Sh2.9 billion.

Mohamud said that he could not yet disclose what amounts where owed to large depositors such as Nakumatt.

By the time it collapsed, it had 10 branches in Nairobi, Kisumu and Mombasa.

Eight of these branches were located at outlets of collapsed retailer Nakumatt, which was identified as an associate of the bank through common shareholding.

“We don’t have a view of the books of the bank we’ve just come in this morning we are now taking a deep dive to find out whats underneath,” he said.

Other weaknesses that CBK found in CHB included the inability of the management to take reasonable measures to secure the accuracy of returns submitted to CBK and failure to obtain account opening documentation for customers.

Mohamud said that investigations were ongoing and charges might be preffered against wrong doers.

“Anybody who commits a crime must be charged, investigations are ongoing anybody found liable must face the law of our country,” he said.