Author: David Indeje

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) says borrowers must recommence regular repayments and have up to June 3, 2021, to ensure that they do not default on their loan obligations. CBK says its March 2, 2020, was the end of the moratorium period of one year for all outstanding loans aimed to provide relief and reassurance to those who were financially impacted due to the pandemic. This was together with the provision of regulatory flexibility to banks by CBK, “The measures expired on March 2, 2021”.  “The period for determining the performance of all the restructured loans will begin on…

Shares of Housing Finance Group PLC, a multi-dimensional financial services provider, on Monday, closed at Ksh 3.76 per share on the Nairobi Securities Exchange, recording a 9.94% gain over its previous closing price of Ksh 3.42. This has been attributed to speculations that insurance group Britam Holdings mulls at selling part of its 48.2 per cent stake in HF Group. HF Group began the year with a share price of Ksh 3.32 which has since gained 13.25% on that price valuation at Ksh 646 million. Its market capitalisation stands at KSh1.34 billion. https://twitter.com/kenyanwalstreet/status/1373985534972936193?s=20 In January, it received a cash injection…

Kenya’s present overall COVID-19 case positivity rate of 22 per cent is the highest this year according to the Ministry of Health on Monday In line with sentiments from doctors, the pandemic is not close to being under control. According to the Ministry, 1130 people had tested positive for COVID-19 from a sample size of 5119, pushing the total of confirmed cases to 122,040. The ministry said cumulative tests so far conducted are 1,419,984 since the first case was reported. “754 patients have recovered from the disease bringing the total to 90,376, ” the ministry disclosed adding that unfortunately, 12…

Carbacid Investments and Aksaya Investments plan to take over BOC Kenya forKSh 1.24 billion is in troubled waters, pending the hearing of an appeal at the Capital Markets Tribunal. BOC Kenya, a leading supplier of industrial, medical, and special gases in a cautionary announcement to shareholders and the public, an appeal was filed on 2 March 2021 in respect to the take-over offer by the two. “Pending further guidance from the CMA and or CMT, we wish to inform you that no further action should be taken in relation to the activities set out in the transaction timetable provided in…

The Chinese smartphone manufacturer Oppo unveiled its range of devices – Reno 5 and Reno5 F in the Kenyan market. We shall speak more of the Reno 5 Priced at Ksh41,999 flashes a quad rear camera set-up with an in-display fingerprint scanner. Reno5 features two industry firsts in the form of AI Mixed Portrait – the first double exposure video effect for smartphone – and AI Highlight Video, an industry-leading feature which uses intelligent light detection to combine OPPO’s advanced Ultra Night Video Algorithms and Live HDR Algorithms to significantly enhance video quality in dim and backlit scenes.  With these…

The Capital Markets Authority (CMA) says the new deadline for coffee brokers to get new licences has been set to July 1, 2021. Currently, the brokers are using the old payment rules in a bid to facilitate transitional arrangements in the sector. In a public notice issued on Tuesday, the regulatory board said, “In line with Regulation 8 of the Capital Markets (Coffee Exchange) Regulations, 2020 marketing agents intending to operate as coffee brokers at the Nairobi Coffee Exchange should apply to the authority for licensing.” The regulations were gazetted by the cabinet secretary for the National Treasury and Planning…