Chase Bank was a large financial services provider in Kenya, with an estimated asset valuation of approximately US$1.428 billion (KES:142 billion), as of December 2015. At that time, shareholders' equity was valued at US$119.7 million (KES:11.9 billion).[3]
History
In 1995, several business people acquired a 60% stake in United Bank (Kenya), after paying approximately US$1.23 million (Kenya Shillings 95 million). At that time the bank's headquarters were located in the western town of Kisumu, approximately 340 kilometres (210 mi), by road, northwest of Nairobi, Kenya's capital and largest city.[4]
At that time, United Bank (Kenya) was in receivership and was under statutory administration by the Central Bank of Kenya, the country's banking regulator. Its paid-up capital, then, was approximately US$970,000 and it had an asset base valued at approximately US$1.9 million. In 1996, the bank opened for business under the new owners who rebranded to its present name. In 1997, a decision was made to relocate the bank's only branch at the time, from Kisumu to Nairobi. Over the years, Chase Bank (Kenya) has progressively improved its bottom line by growing its customer base and increasing its profitability.[5]
Statutory management
On 7 April 2016, Chase Bank was placed under receivership by the Central Bank of Kenya making it the third bank to be placed under receivership in a twelve-month period.[6] This was mainly due under reporting of insider loans and not meeting the statutory banking ratios.[7] Chase Bank re-opened on 27 April 2016 with KCB as the receiver manager.[8]
In April 2016, the bank was put under statutory management by the CBK following what it termed 'unsafe financial conditions'. The liquidity problems that it faced followed social media reports after the resignation of two of its directors.[9] The reports showed that its profits in 2015 fell to Ksh. 742 million from 2.3 billion in 2014. The statements also revealed that non performing loans had risen from Ksh. 3 billion in 2014 to Ksh. 11 billion in 2015.[10]
In April 2016, Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet ordered the arrest of Chase bank's executives to answer questions about mismanagement in the bank.[11][12] After closure for two weeks, the bank reopened on 27 April 2016 under management of Kenya Commercial Bank.[13]
Liquidation
In April 2018, the central bank announced that State Bank of Mauritius would be acquiring certain assets and matched liabilities from Chase Bank's. This deal included 75% of deposits, bank staff and branches and merging them with the operations of its Kenyan subsidiary, SBM Kenya. The remaining assets and liabilities were then transferred to Kenya Deposit Insurance Corporation for liquidation.[14]
Ownership
In March 2013, Amethis Finance, a development finance company based in Paris, France, invested US$10.5 million (KES:900 million) into the bank, thereby taking an equity position in Chase Bank (Kenya).[15] In October 2013, a European Private Equity Fund, invested KSh1.5 billion into the bank, taking up an equity position into the institution.[16]
As of April 2015[update], the shareholders in the stock of the bank are summarized in the table below:[17]
