Category Archives: Co-op

Kenya Interest Rates Part IV – Coop Bank Leads

Ever since the banking amendment act was passed by parliament virtually all banks have announced reductions of interest rates to comply with the last KBRR – and all have reduced by 0.97% effective August 25.

Coop Bank branch

But yesterday Cooperative Bank (Coop Bank) was the first to reduce its rates to 14.5% (the Central Bank Rate plus 4%). In a statement from the bank CEO, this new rate will apply for all new loans or credit facilities. The modalities of the new law that was signed by the president this week, have not been outlined (such as if the rate is retroactive), but virtually all bank share prices have nose-dived over the last two days, with some banks pulling back on unsecured new credit facilities to customers.

Coop Bank is Kenya’s third largest bank, with a loan portfolio of Kshs 220 billion (~$2.18 billion).

The Fusion Real Estate REIT (FRED)

You can now invest in Kenya’s second REIT (Prospectus – PDF), that closes on Friday this week. The Fusion Development Real Estate Investment Trust (a.k.a. FRED) aims to raise Kshs 2.3 billion ($23 million) through the sale of 100 million units at Kshs 23 each.

FRED comes after Stanlib’s Fahari I-REIT that launched last year. While Fahari was an I-REIT, this one is a development REIT (D-REIT). Stanlib, who aimed to raise Kshs 12.5 billion, ended up with Kshs 3.6 billion, a 29% uptake, which included an investment from the IFC. The minimum investment was affordable (Kshs 20,000) but Kenyans are slow to take to exotic products in this case REIT’s as opposed to the usual bonds or shares, and that one came amid a spate of bank collapses.

FRED plans to use the Kshs 2.2 billion (i.e Raise Kshs 2.3 billion minus issuance costs of Kshs 100M) for Greenwood Park, a mixed development comprising a shopping mall, office block and residential apartments that is currently under construction in Meru.

The REIT manager is Fusion Capital, and the REIT Trustee is Co-Operative Bank of Kenya (Coop). Fusion Capital, TT Africa Real Estate and Binder Limited are the vendors, and Coop will purchase on behalf of the REIT. The construction has started at a 2.5 hectares (6 acre) plot. The value of land (Kshs 330M), contractor work done (Kshs 547M), and other work In progress (Kshs 186M) plus other items add up to Kshs 1.15 billion. They have certificates payable of Kshs 239M and a net asset value of Kshs 892M of the development.

Other Features

The units will be listed on the restricted market segment of the Nairobi Securities Exchange.
Minimum subscription is 50% (Kshs 1.15 billion – and the promoters will make a decision on allocation of units, an extension of dates or a withdrawal, if the minimum is not reached).
Minimum investment is a subscription for 218,000 units worth ~Kshs 5 million (so this means they will get about 450 investors at most for this which will be a closed fund)
The offer runs from 23 June to 15 July
Other partners include Fusion Investment Management (REIT manager), NIC Capital (lead transaction advisor) Mboya Wangong’u & Waiyaki, (legal advisors), Deloitte Consulting (reporting accountant) Ngotho Consultants (property valuer) Burbidge Capital (SPV valuer) Citiscape Estate Agents (property manager)
Expenses include lead transaction advisor (Kshs 30M), legal costs (6M), Reporting Accountants (0.7M), selling commission (35M), CMA fees (7.5M), NSE fees (1.25M) PR costs (2M), Advertising costs (8M) – total Kshs 99M.

Fusion Capital is undertaken the projects including Flamingo Towers (Upper Hill – Kshs 1.3B), Upward Scale (offices on Ngong Rd – Kshs 1.5B), Hand in Hand (residential in Athi River – 600M), Starehe Homes (90 3 BR apartments in Mtwapa – Kshs 1.2 billion ), and Kigali Heights (office next to Kigali convention centre – Kshs 3.7B)

The retail, entertainment and lifestyle facility, measuring 25,000 square metres when complete that would be the centre of attraction in Meru County for many years to come. The promoter’s anticipate 100% occupancy for the residential, offices and retail spaces. They have chosen to sell the residential parts (2 bedroom apartments for Kshs 10 M & Kshs 10.3M and 3 bedroom ones for Kshs 13 M) and that combined with offices (Kshs 12,000 psf) and retail (Kshs 21,592 psf) space rents will lead to a payback in 3 years.

Other

It’s been reported that Nakumatt will be the anchor tenant at Greenwood mall and that 45% of the mall has been booked.

Also, investment firm Cytonn had a report which noted that:

We analyze(d) returns on the Fusion D-REIT offering, and recommend our investors to participate in the offering.
As compared to other investment opportunities such as a 5-year Kenya T-bond currently yielding 13.2%, FRED offers equity IRR of 20.5%,.
However, the key risk is the ability of the development to be executed within the defined parameters.
Mombasa, Kisumu and Nakuru are the leading frontiers in mall space supply, after Nairobi… The Mt Kenya region which comprises of Meru, Embu, Nanyuki and Nyeri has the largest development pipeline, and Meru and Nanyuki have been identified as investment frontiers due to population growth and tourism activity.

EDIT: On July 17, the deadline was extended to July 26.

EDIT 2: On July 27, the deadline was extended, for a second time, to August 4.

EDIT 3: On August 5, the deadline was extended, for a third time, to August 24.

EDIT 4: On August 26, the results were published in the newspapers which showed that Fusion had achieved a 38% subscription rate, raising Kshs 873 million from 4 investors (3 of whom were shareholders in the asset being acquired). The offer did not meet the regulator’s criteria of 7 investors or the 50% target for the promoter. Nevertheless, the promoters will seek alternative funding to complete the project construction on time and consult the CMA and NSE about reopening the REIT at a future date.

$1= ~Kshs 100

When Bankers own Banks

Managers and employees are often given a chance to become part owners in the banks. This ‘aligns their interests’ with the institutions and gives them an added incentive to help the institutions do better as it individually rewards them for the good performance. The incentives are usually facilitated through employee share option schemes (ESOP’s) which convey some tax benefits and discounted buying prices. Typically, in conventional ESOP’s, there a general pool for all employees and another for senior managers.

The method of calculation and award of these benefits is done in secrecy, usually by board committees. This is to ensure the privacy of employees and security of their families, but one outcome is that any revelation of these perks sparks a lot of interest. In fact, you sometimes find a higher level of disclosure of compensation practices at listed banks in Uganda and Rwanda, than you do with Kenyan ones.

Consider these examples:

CBA: Shareholders include a ESOP who own 2.5%.

Chase Bank: Employees of the bank own 4.3% of Chase through an ESOP. Elsewhere a bonus to the former chairman was one of the deals that the auditors queried in 2015.

Cooperative Bank: Stories about shares to bank management and directors first surfaced in 2008, ahead of the IPO in which bank staff got 9% of the shares. and has been on twitter this year. The company’s accounts show that the CEO owns 2% and the bank links the story to a smear by a former CEO who has an ongoing tax case with the bank.

Equity Bank: CEO owns 4%, while an employee ESOP owns about 3%.

Jamii Bora: The CEO own 1% and is also an investor in the largest shareholder of the company.

Family Bank: In 2011, shareholders voted in an ESOP for managers and a transfer of 1 % transfer of shares of the (then-new CEO , which he purchased at a discount as part of his employment package.

Housing Finance: Has has an ESOP since 2006 that’s open to all employees: Eligible employees pay for the units by cash at a price determined by Trustees either in full or by instalments until price is paid in full. The Unit holder is not allowed to sell, transfer or otherwise dispose of Units registered in his name to another Unit holder or to any third-party whatsoever.

KCB: When KCB CEO Joshua Oigara declared his wealth (assets of Kshs 350 million comprising land, buildings, motor vehicle, cash bank balances and shares) and salary (with allowances that totaled Kshs 4.9 Million a month), last year his statement added that “..My public declaration is driven by the need for us as private sector players to initiate greater transparency. Kenya is bleeding from corruption mainly driven by secrecy in organizational operations..”

$1 – Kshs 101.

Coop Bank 2016 AGM

Co-operative Bank of Kenya (Coop) had its 8th AGM (since listing) on Friday 27th May, at Bomas, in Nairobi. At the end of 2015, Kenya’s 3rd largest bank had 342 billion in assets, and profits of Ksh 15 billion. It had Kshs 208 billion in loans and Kshs 265 billion in deposits. The CEO also mentioned that Q1 profit in 2016 was almost Kshs 5 billion and they hoped to attain Kshs 20 billion by the end of 2016.

Highlights

Soaring Eagle: The CEO gave an update of the ongoing transformation project that seeks to improve Co-op’s efficiency and services to the 5.9 million customers of the Bank. Now, only 25% transactions are done at branches, as customers have the choice to use other channels like mobile phones, ATM,s internet, or bank agents. Internally, staff are tasked to cross sell bank products & open accounts, and they receive promotions, bonuses, and increments based on KPI’s and appraisals. They consulted with McKinsey for some of this.
Regional Expansion / Subsidiaries & Associates: They own 60% of Kingdom Securities (stockbrokers), and in South Sudan they own 51% of Coop Bank there, with the government of South Sudan owning the other 49%. The bank went from a loss of Kshs 687 million to a pre tax profit of Kshs 850 million, and the CEO said that Sudanese see the bank as their own, as they have a stake a board and management are local. They plan to use the same joint venture approach to take Coop Bank to Ethiopia, another large closed banking market. They also own 100% of Co-op Consultancy and Co-op Trust Investment Services, 35% of Cooperative insurance (parent of the listed CIC insurance) and 31% of CIC South Sudan.
Shareholders: The bank has almost 96,000 shareholders who will each receive Kshs 0.8 per share in dividend – and this will total Kshs 3.9 billion in 2015 (up from 2.4 billion). The bank Chairman said that they had to maintain a balance with the dividends paid out so that they they did not have to call on shareholders to put money back in to the bank as it grows. Coop shares were issued after a 2008 IPO at Kshs 9.5, and now trade at 18.3. They have also issued bonus shares (twice?).
Elections: During the shareholder election, the CEO explained two unique points. One was that Coop Holdings which owns 65% of the bank, had already had its AGM and nominate 7 directors (that they are entitled to) and merely forwards the names to the Bank for endorsement at the AGM. Second was that the CMA now requires that companies make shareholders aware that they have audit committees, and to have shareholders vote for the members of the audit committee at the AGM.

Q&A

One Shareholder asks about the cost of banking saying that If he deposits Kshs 100 at an agent, Kshs 20 is cut, and there’s another Kshs 50 for each of his ATM withdrawals. The CEO they share these fees with the agents who have to pay for costs like electricity or to run their kiosks. Another one asked that Coop asked the bank to open more agent locations (now at 8,765) to serve other parts of the country.
Insider Lending at Coop? The CEO assured that all loans taken by directors (total about Kshs 300 million) and employees (about 6.5 billion) are being serviced properly, and that they are known to, and approved by the board. Insider lending had brought down other banks in Kenya, but, he said, this was not an issue at Coop.
Legal cases? All banks have legal cases, and they highlighted the main ones in the annual report.

Banks that Serve Blackberry Apps

I am a Blackberry (BB) user. It’s been a struggle to keep up with the world as not many new apps are being created or updated for Blackberry. While the number of BB users has flat-lined, many remain loyal and tied to their devices.

They also appreciate the platform and new apps that improve the phone experience. The app world today is considered to be either Android (Google) or iPhone (apple) – and developers and institutions are primarily making apps in these two formats only. So it’s nice to see a few banks still coming up working apps for with Blackberry, and the BB10 (platform). Here are a few:

Chase Bank (Mfukoni): Chase customers always rave about Mfukoni online. But starting the BB10 app starts with a somewhat sinister request for loads of data, even to open and run the app. This includes a request to connect with, and invite other BBM users, location data, shared files, calendar contacts, camera, SMS, email & PIN messages etc. If you decline, you can’t do things like search for branches or ATM’s without enabling location settings. Once connected, It seems you can open accounts, view products (youth current, women accounts, etc), request insurance, and ATM cards. But it has a few dead menus too.

Co-Op (MCo-Op Cash): From the start, you can log in or do self-registration. You really can’t browse the products, or see how rich the app experience is for customers until you first register. But this is an easy process, that does not require much information – just your name, telephone number, national ID number, birth date, and your existing account number (if you’re already a Co-op customer).

Family Bank (Pesapap): The app also starts with a request for lots of information like the Mfukoni one. So, once again, it wants to access your camera, device information, location data, microphone, text, email & PIN messages, calendar, and contacts. Later, you can log-in, request for cards, get locations of branches & ATM’s, but while it only took a few MB to install, it sometimes kicks you out, with a warning that your phone needs more memory.

Sidian (Vibe): It’s nimble, light, and not intrusive, with good navigation and responses. It has a menu that you can jump back to, sending you back to the main menu if you cancel (e.g if you’re checking out a service that requires you to be registered / or you don’t have an account).

Self-registration and signing in is simple and you only have to enter your user name (usually your mobile phone number) and a PIN. Even from the outside, you get to see a lot of what account holders can do – merchants, ticket sasa, you can search for branches and ATM’s , and they show up on a map, after which you can enter a starting point (in lieu of it pulling your phone location data) and it will give you driving directions, and even traffic information enroute, (Google has activated for Nairobi). It has the crucial m-pesa link (bank account to m-pesa, and m-pesa to bank account) and if you click to contact the bank, one click starts a call to the bank or creates an email message to the bank.

Bank of Africa (BMobile): Also asks for the voluminous info as some of the other apps, but you can bypass that request. Once you get to the products, the navigation is not very good as the menus are limited, but if you get stuck there’s a home button which takes you right back to the start. It also has a few dead menus like the debit and credit card types.

Bankelele

Nairobi writer on Banking, Finance, Technology, and Investments