Imperial Bank depositors will now have to open accounts with Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) ahead of next week’s partial payment of their money stuck in the collapsed lender.
According to a statement by the Kenya Deposit Insurance Corporation (KDIC), all eligible depositors will access 12.7 per cent of deposit balances through KCB.
This comes as KCB finalizes on plans to fully acquire the collapsed Imperial Bank. The KDIC and the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) last week announced acceptance of binding offers from KCB, saying it paved the way for depositors to access part of their balances at Imperial within 14 days subject to account and identity verifications.
Last year, the depositors received partial payments through the NIC and Diamond Trust banks.
This change means that only depositors who have claimed in the past through KCB and still have their accounts active will not be required to open new accounts and fill claim forms to receive the new tranche of deposit refunds.
“Depositors who will be claiming their funds for the first time through KCB Bank are required to open an account with any of the KCB Bank branches and shall complete a claim form with the assistance of the bank officials who will forward the same to IBL for processing,” said the KDIC.
Imperial Bank’s annual report covering up to June 2017 says the bank sunk into receivership on October 13, 2015 with a total of Sh. 85.068 billion belonging to 49,939 depositors.
As at end of June last year, KDIC says in its report that it had disbursed a total of Sh. 17.8 billion, with the pay-out programme offering full access to depositors with balances of up to Sh. 2.7 million.
The CBK said combining this latest payment with earlier disbursements will result in a total recovery of approximately 35 per cent of original eligible deposits held as at the date of receivership.
Going by the KDIC figure, this payment will still leave about Sh. 55.25 billon in Imperial even as KCB intends to complete loan verification process by March next year and conclude the deal.
“The loan verification process is expected to result in further recoveries for eligible depositors of IBLR,” the CBK said in a joint statement with the KDIC last week.