Business
Kenya’s Central Bank Sanctions Five Banks Over Theft
Kenya’s central bank said it had fined five commercial banks a total of 392.5 million shillings (3.89 million dollars) over alleged theft of funds at the National Youth Agency (NYS).
The central bank said in a statement in Nairobi Wednesday that all the banks had received a total of more than three billion shillings from the NYS on behalf of their customers without reporting the transactions.
The central bank said it had discussed its findings with all the five banks and they had pledged to ensure compliance with all laws in the future and to draw up plans for sealing gaps that were identified.
According to the apex bank, the five banks are Standard Chartered Kenya, Equity, Diamond Trust, Co-operative Bank and KCB Group. Dozens of senior government officials and business people were charged in May with various charges related to the theft of nearly 100 million dollars from the agency, marking a new effort to crack down on widespread graft.
It accused them of failing to report large transactions, failing to undertake proper due diligence on customers, approving large transactions without proper documents and failing to report suspicious transactions.
The central bank added that more banks would be investigated and the findings of its investigations had been passed onto criminal detectives to assess whether they would bring any charges.
Credit to Nigeria’s private sector rose to N83.26 trillion in June 2026 from N81.04 trillion in May, signifying a positive balance of N2.22 trillion month-on-month.
Year-on-year, the figure represents a nine per cent increase compared with the N76.13 trillion recorded in June 2025. The latest figures come as the CBN continues to balance efforts to control inflation with the need to support economic growth and expand credit to businesses.
The CBN data shows that credit to Nigeria’s private sector increased by approximately 2.74 per cent month-on-month between May and June 2026. Also, the CBN data noted that credit to the government fell slightly to N40.03 trillion from N40.38 trillion. Other assets, net, dropped to N10.76 trillion from N12.63 trillion.
The credit surge signifies sustained growth in lending to businesses and other private-sector borrowers during the month. The rise in private sector credit was recorded alongside an increase in net domestic credit, despite declines in credit to government and other assets.
Further analysis of the report says that compared with June 2025, private sector credit rose by about N7.13 trillion yea-on-year but net domestic credit increased by approximately N1.87 trillion during the month.
The CBN’s relatively tight monetary policy stance notwithstanding, more banks still loaded funds to the private sector within the period. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) held its 306th meeting on July 20 and 21.
The Committee reviewed recent developments in the global and domestic economies, assessed emerging risks to the outlook and considered their implications for monetary policy and retained all rates.
The Committee decided to retain the Monetary Policy Rate at 26.5 per cent; the Standing Facilities Corridor around the MPR at +50/-450 basis points and retain the Cash Reserve Requirement (CRR) for Deposit Money Banks at 45.00 per cent, Merchant Banks at 16.00 per cent, and non-TSA public sector deposits at 75.00 per cent.
The MPC decision means that credit extension in the private sector will likely continue to rise because of rising confidence in the sector and calls by stakeholders for banks to invest in the private scetor instead of government securities.
