NIC ups board changes with hiring of ex-Deloitte executive

An NIC Bank branch in Nairobi. The bank has named a new director. FILE 

By GEORGE NGIGI

In Summary

• Kairu Thuo, a lawyer and accountant, joins the bank from consultancy firm Viva Africa. He previously served as an associate director at audit firm Deloitte.

NIC Bank has named a former top executive of audit firm Deloitte to its board in a series of changes at the mid-tier lender. The bank informed staff on Monday evening of Kairu Thuo’s appointment as director.

Mr Thuo, a lawyer and accountant, joins the bank from consultancy firm Viva Africa. He previously served as an associate director at audit firm Deloitte.

“The board of directors has appointed Kairu Thuo as a director of the bank. The appointment has already been approved by the Central Bank of Kenya,” read a memo to the staff.

Its board, which is closely watched by the family of the late Philip Ndegwa, a former Central Bank of Kenya governor, has also seen little changes on its composition in recent years with the bulk of directors having served between 12 years and 20 years.

The Ndegwas entered NIC Bank in 1996 after they acquired a 20 per cent stake from Barclays Bank of Kenya through First Chartered Securities — an investment firm founded in 1974 by the family patriarch Philip.

They currently own a quarter of the bank and the son of the former governor, James Ndegwa, chairs its board. But the bank has appointed three new executives over the past year.

It tapped Margaret Kimuma in November as executive director in charge of credit risk and John Gachora, who became CEO in September following the appointment of James Macharia as Health secretary in May.

Last January it hired Edgar Kalya as retail director from Barclays Bank of Kenya where he was acting consumer banking director. The bank has been left with the task of filling the position of finance director that fell vacant in July after Joseph Mutugu quit.

Mr Mutugu was said to have left the bank after failing to agree on strategy, but the other positions were occasioned by retirements.

NIC profit rose 17.6 per cent to Sh2.81 billion in the nine months to September and its share at the Nairobi bourse has gained 2.56 per cent over the past six months to the current Sh60.

Mr Gachora’s experience in mainstream banking and investment banking is expected to help him deepen NIC Bank’s financial supermarket model, which includes trading shares, selling insurance products and offering loans.