Last year the CIC Insurance Group took a Sh. 4.5 billion loan from the Co-operative Bank to fund the payment of a Sh. 5 billion corporate bond that was due on October 2, 2019. This has been revealed through the latest financial annual report by CIC.
According to the report, the Co-op Bank, which has a 24.8 percent indirect stake in CIC Insurance Group, gave out the loan a few days before the corporate bond matured.
“The company acquired a loan facility of Sh. 4.5 billion from Co-operative Bank, a related party on October 1, 2019 at a rate of 12.5 percent with a tenure of five years,” CIC said in the annual report. “The loans were obtained mainly to enable the company to repay the corporate bond which matured on October 2, 2019.”
The insurance group further disclosed that the loan will be paid at the end of the loan term while interest will be paid three times a year in a structure aimed at easing pressure on the insurer’s cash flows.
Strikingly, the advancement of the funds by Co-op Bank has come out to show the lender’s financial stability, muscle and capital adequacy at a time when a majority of banks have been shying away from lending. “It is also worth noting that apart from this loan, the bank is finalizing on its acquisition bid for Jamii Bora Bank. This shows that the bank is in a good capital position and is looking to generate more revenue through acquisition, strategic expansion and interest income,” said financial analyst Reuben Kosgey.
Co-op Kenya, which is mainly owned by members of co-operative movement, is the fourth-largest lender, controlling 9.63 percent of the market with 159 outlets. In a market review by Cytonn Investments on the the performance of banks in the first quarter of 2020, the bank was ranked as the second best in Kenya.