Members of the Kenya Bankers Association (KBA) have elected Kenya Commercial Bank’s Group Chief Executive Officer Joshua Oigara as the new chairman of the Governing Council and re-elected NIC Bank Managing Director John Gachora for another term as vice-chairman. The new leadership will serve for one year.
Mr Oigara takes over from Standard Chartered Bank CEO and Area General Manager for East Africa Lamin Manjang, who served as KBA chairman for two years. He was recognised as being instrumental in steering the industry during the tumultuous period following the enactment of the Banking (Amendment) Act, which introduced price controls on bank interest rates.
Notable developments under Mr Manjang’s leadership include the launch of Integrated Payment Services Limited (IPSL), established to provide a secure, fast and efficient 24/7 bank-to-bank money transfer platform under the PesaLink brand. To date, 30 KBA member banks offer the PesaLink service, which moves more than Ksh100 million in value per day. Since its launch in June 2017, PesaLink has facilitated Ksh68 billion worth of transactions across the banking network.
Most recently, Mr Manjang led the KBA Council to adopt higher standards of governance including taking on policies that will see the industry address the areas of fraud and money laundering. His tenure also saw the industry train more than 28,000 bank employees on the role the sector plays in promoting Kenya’s sustainable development under the Sustainable Finance Initiative.
Mr Oigara acknowledged that the interest rate cap has remained one of the industry’s greatest challenges over the last two years, adding that it will be an area that the KBA Council will continue to engage on. “We have given proposals to make credit more accessible, and the Inuka SME Program, particularly the Ksh30 billion fund, will be an important component of the industry’s response to concerns raised by our stakeholders,” he said.
The new KBA chairman also committed that industry players would continue supporting IPSL in prolling out PesaLink and other fintech innovations that promote industry efficiency and enhance the user experience for consumers of financial services. “Governance remains an important area for us and therefore we will work to promote the KBA Charter which introduces an industry code of ethics and framework for peer accountability,” he added.
KBA Chief Executive Officer Habil Olaka thanked the KBA members and the Council for their leadership role in the implementation of the transformation programmes that have ensured innovation, efficiency and standardisation of banking services to conform to global best practises.
KBA Governing Council for the 2018/2019 period:
The KBA Governing Council is nominated to represent three categories – large, medium-sized and small banks, as defined by the KBA articles of association. The incoming Council members are as follows:
1. Kenya Commercial Bank, Group CEO, Joshua Oigara (Chairman)
2. NIC Bank, Group Managing Director, John Gachora (Vice Chairman)
3. Standard Chartered Bank (K), Managing Director & CEO, Lamin Manjang
4. Barclays Bank of Kenya, Managing Director, Jeremy Awori
5. Co-operative Bank of Kenya, Group Managing Director & CEO, Dr. Gideon Muriuki
6. Commercial Bank of Africa, Chief Executive Officer, Jeremy Ngunze
7. Diamond Trust Bank, Group CEO & Managing Director, Nasim Devji
8. Equity Bank, Group CEO, Dr. James Mwangi
9. I&M Bank, Chief Executive Officer, Kihara Maina
10. Citibank, East Africa Chief Executive Officer, Joyce-Ann Wainaina
11. Family Bank, Managing Director & CEO, Dr. David Thuku
12. GT Bank, Regional Managing Director, Ibukunoluwa Odegbaike
13. Gulf African Bank, Chief Executive Officer, Abdalla Abdulkhalik
14. DIB Bank, Chief Executive Officer, Peter Makau
15. Guardian Bank, Managing Director, Vasant Shetty
16. Middle East Bank, Managing Director, Dhirendra Rana
