Relief as Imperial Bank customers set to access deposits soon

Central Bank Governor Dr Patrick Njoroge on Wednesday announced that 89 percent of depositors at Imperial Bank, which is currently under receivership, would access all their deposits in the next few days.

In a statement, Dr Njoroge indicated that 44,300 depositors would get their deposits in full while the remaining 5,700 depositors will be paid only a portion of their depositors to a maximum of 1 million shillings per depositor.

Imperial Bank depositors are now required to file their claims at any KCB or DTB branch in the country upon which a response will be provided within three business days.

The CBK boss further said that he expects the refund process to run until the end of March next year.

The process comes after KCB and Diamond Trust Bank agreed to enable Imperial Bank’s 50,000 depositors to access their deposits.

The bank was placed under receivership in mid October after its directors revealed that the bank had been defrauded of at least Sh34 billion by its former managing director, the late Abdulmalek Janmohamed.

In a statement on their website, CBK announced that it had put Imperial Bank under the management and control of the Kenya Deposit Insurance Corporation (KDIC) for a period of 12 months.

CBK is allowed by law to place an institution under receivership if, in its opinion, there exist unsafe and unsound conditions for transacting business.

“KDIC is working closely with the Board of Directors of Imperial Bank Limited for a resolution mechanism,” read the statement in part.

Imperial Bank Limited was founded in 1992 and has operations in Kenya and Uganda.