President Uhuru Kenyatta-owned bank buys its own car yard in order to make more money from auctioned vehicles

Uhuru-owned bank buys its own car yard in order to make more money from auctioned vehicles

Tony Mukere

July 8, 2020 9:59 AM

Auction business on the boom as economy suffers

President Uhuru Kenyatta-owned bank buys its own car yard in order to make more money from auctioned vehicles

The NCBA bank where President Uhuru Kenyatta is a shareholder, has purchased its own car yard amid growing auction of vehicles from loan defaulters who are hurt by the increasingly deteriorating economy.

Banks ordinary seek the services of yard owners where they store and upgrade auctioned vehicles for purposes of raising the vehicle value.

However, NCBA said it had decided to purchase its own yard as it recorded a huge increase in the number of vehicle recoveries from loan defaulters.

The bank says it has financed about 4,300 vehicles which are worth Sh17 billion.

The car yard is expected to increase the recovered amount as the recovered cars will be upgraded at the NCBA car yard ahead of their auction.

“This has seen a 15 percent increase in the selling price of repossessed vehicles and faster turnaround in their disposal as we are now able to conduct basic maintenance like regular cleaning of vehicles and ensuring proper tyre pressure to restore their value,” said the bank," the bank said as quoted by the Business Daily.

President Kenyatta, his brother Muhoho, and mother Mama Ngina Kenyatta jointly own 196 million shares (13.2 percent) of the newly listed shares at NCBA – an entity created after CBA merged with NIC Bank

Auctioneers have in the past one year had a big boost in business as many borrowers have been unable to finance their loans from the hostile economic environment which has been made worse by the coronavirus.

Last year, the Nation, which has been recording low revenue from advertisement, hosted a thanksgiving dinner for auctioneers for their increasing presence in the ad space.

Auctioneers have been given a special pull out in some newspapers which often runs to nearly ten pages of auctioned properties.

Tony Mukere