Unaitas says it is ready to roll out fully fledged commercial
banking services anytime the Central Bank lifts the moratorium on
licensing imposed in 2015.
The indefinite freeze came
after massive irregularities were blamed on lack of proper supervisory
structures after massive fraud at the Imperial, Chase and Dubai banks.
The moratorium, however, did not affect mergers and acquisitions and has also seen some previous applicants granted licence.
Unaitas Sacco chairman Joseph Kabugu said the institution has
gone live with a Sh700 million infrastructure upgrade in readiness for
commercial banking.
“We are good to go, even if the
licence was to be granted today. We will simply switch on and start
offering services to our clients.
“We have come of age
and we look forward to being the new kid on the block and solidly
compete for the ultimate edge in banking services,” he said.
He
added Unaitas is now holding client deposits in excess of Sh30 billion,
having declared a Sh300 million pre-tax profit in the third quarter of
2018.
He said the journey that started in 1993 with the
opening of Murang’a Tea Growers before metamorphosing to Muramati in
2007 and later Unaitas in 2012 had resulted in a financial services
institution capable of entering the competitive banking market.
The sacco has the capacity of receiving Sh40 billion in deposits.
“With
slightly over 400,000 customers, 16 per cent of them being in the
dSiaspora, we feel that the time to graduate our services was
yesterday,” he said.
He said there is increased demand
for financial services owing to the dynamics of an expanding national
economy, which is relying more on savings and credit to liquidate
individual, group and institutional ventures.
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