CRDB ponders scrapping account charges

CRDB managing director Charles Kimei speaks at a past event. PHOTO|FILE

What you need to know:

This was announced here last Thursday by the managing director Charles Kimei during a seminar organized by the bank for entrepreneurs and members of the business community.

        Arusha. CRDB Bank is contemplating to scrap monthly charges to service the accounts in order to woo more clients and focus on more profitable charges for account holders.

This was announced here last Thursday by the managing director Charles Kimei during a seminar organized by the bank for entrepreneurs and members of the business community.

He said with the fast expansion of the bank -now the largest in terms of asset size and branch network- the financial institution was seeing no use to continue charging the account holders for the services rendered.

“Such costs can be absorbed in other charges to depositors. Our volume of business is quite large. Charging clients for simply having an account should no longer be our priority”, he pointed out.

He could not reveal when the measure would come into effect during his address to a well attended meeting at Mt. Meru Hotel, only noting that this could be the new order “after some years”.

Dr Kimei informed entrepreneurs and account holders from Arusha and its environs that CRDB Bank was experiencing rising operational costs “due to the structural nature of our banking system”.

He said flexibility was needed in managing loans and cash flow.

However, he said the 21 year old bank remains stable due to diversified base of its clients, with small and medium enteprises (SMEs) accounting for a significant per cent of its deposits and the quantity of its assets. The bank’s current assets base stands at Sh5.4 trillion. It has deposits worth Sh4.1 trillion. It has issued loan to the tune of Sh3.5 trillion.