Corporate News
A Dahabshiil branch in Nairobi. FILE PHOTO | JENNIFER MUIRURI
By EDWIN OKOTH, edokoth@ke.nationmedia.com
In Summary
Regional money transfer service provider Dahabshiil
Kenya is still in operations and only a bank that was registered under a
similar name has been dissolved.
The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) said Friday that the cash
transfer service was not linked to Dahabshiil Bank International (Kenya)
Ltd which had applied for a banking licence and later withdrew.
“CLARIFICATION: Dahabshiil Money Transfer Limited
is still operational and has not been de-registered by the Central Bank
of Kenya,” the banking sector regulator tweeted the same day a Gazette
notice announced the bank's dissolution.
It was not immediately clear why the company had decided to withdraw the application for a banking license.
The move could be linked to the more tightly
controlled banking environment in the country which has seen lending
rates capped at 14.5 per cent while the deposit rates have been fixed at
7.35 per cent.
It also remains unclear if the bank planned to operate Islamic or conventional banking.
Dahabshiil Group Chief Executive Abdirashid Duale told the Nation that the firm dissolved was an idea conceived and dropped by stakeholders hence the dissolution.
“What we have in the Kenyan Gazette Notice is a
company we registered and later deregistered and not our money transfer
service which is fully operational as usual. We are open for business in
Kenya and worldwide,” Mr Duale said.
Dahabshiil has agent locations and branches in 126 countries worldwide.
Its Kenya unit had its operations suspended in
April 2015 for three months along with 84 other licensed remittance
providers on suspicion of supporting terrorism organisations.
The firm’s operations were restored after it
appealed the move that also saw their assets frozen after being
suspected to be associated with Al-Shabaab.
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