The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has rubbished reports that Fidelity Bank is to be placed under receivership. This follows reports circulating on social media alleging that Fidelity Bank is about to be closed or placed under statutory management.

In denouncing the reports, CBK termed the rumours circulating on social media as baseless.

Ironically, the reports came as Fidelity Bank received Sh. 1.9 billion capital injection from private equity group Duet Private Equity. According to the bank, capital injection, which is subject to regulatory approval will see Fidelity’s capital base increase to over Sh. 3.8 billion.

According to Fidelity Bank’s Executive Director, Mr. Sultan Khimji, the investment will allow the bank to focus on larger transactions and increase its customer base. He further added that none of the bank’s existing shareholders would be pulling away. “This deal with Duet Group brings us closer to our stated objective of growing to a mid-tier category bank and listing on the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) in the future. We are all very confident about the direction the bank is heading,” he said.

Duet Group Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Henry Gabay noted that Fidelity Bank had offered Duet a platform to invest in the Kenyan banking sector.

“We have been looking at Kenya for some time now and we see the Kenyan banking sector as an opportunity which will require growth capital as well as numerous consolidation opportunities in the sector,” he said.

“Fidelity Bank is a reputable, well managed institution with an experienced team whom we are looking forward to working with. They have a robust financial technology platform and an aggressive expansion plan which we are looking to support both organically and by acquisition. More importantly, we value the shareholders’ commitment to staying and growing the business.”

Duet Group is a UK-headquartered global alternative asset management firm with over US$5.6 billion of assets under management.