Unaitas says ready for commercial bank licence

Unaitas Sacco chairman Joseph Kabugu. FILE PHOTO | NMG 

By MWANGI MUIRURI

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Summary

• 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.

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.

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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.