President Uhuru Kenyatta's family among beneficiaries of increased bank share prices ahead of rate cap review

How Uhuru’s family has made Sh600 million in the last 24hrs

Tony Mukere

November 1, 2019 1:01 PM

MPs' decision gives Kenyatta family an early Christmas

President Uhuru Kenyatta;;s family among beneficiaries of increased bank share prices ahead of rate cap review

President Uhuru Kenyatta’s family is among bankers who are smiling all the way to the bank following a decision by MPs to review a law capping the interest charged by banks.

The share price of banking institutions is on a rally after Parliament’s Finance Committee agreed to support President Kenyatta’s memorandum calling for removal of the interest cap introduced in 2016.

MPs had initially indicated they would shoot down the President’s memorandum but changed their mind after placing in place measures that will protect existing laws from being reviewed.

The removal of the cap is expected to increase profits for banks – hence the rush by investors to acquire shares in banking institutions.

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.

When the stock markets opened on Thursday morning, NCBA share price was at Sh36.95 which has continued to rally to Sh40 as of Friday morning.

The Sh3.05 increase in price saw the Kenyatta’s earn Sh600 million. Their current stake is now valued at Sh7.8 billion – up from the Sh7.2 billion it was on Thursday morning.

Apart from the Kenyatta family, Equity Bank CEO James Mwangi has also made a substantial increase in net value.

Equity Bank’s share price increased by Sh3.35 on Thursday – earning Mwangi Sh500 million in a matter of hours.

Mwangi is the largest individual shareholder at Equity, with about 193 million shares (5.2 percent) of the 3.7 billion shares listed at the NSE.

Tony Mukere