Old mutual loosens up: Old Mutual , the pioneer of unit trusts in Kenya has made some radical changes to it contractual savings plans to cope with a changing market place with many unit trust choices from a competitive fund and insurance industry. Changes include;
– Plans will no longer lapse if premium payments are stopped. E.g. when people get retrenched
– Savings (in a lapsed plan) will remain invested until maturity or can be paid out early
– If your saving plan was terminated without a payout, consider it reinstated!
Credit reference rules: Former finance minister Amos Kimunya was able to gazette the rules for operations of credit reference bureaus in Kenya before he left office. Provisions include;
– Bureaus will be licensed by the central bank
– Signup costs are 100,000 shillings ($1,500), a bank guarantee for 1 million and another fee of 100,000 per year
– Bureaus may share info only with a customers’ permission (which happens when you sign for a loan)
– They may only share information for business decision making (evaluate credit prospects)
– Bureaus must keep track of all information they share
– Customers are entitled to one free report a year, and within 30 days of a negative referral
– if a customer complains, and bureau not able to complete an investigation of disputed information within a month, information will be deleted as request by customer
Undugu at work: More Tanzanian IPO news with the upcoming sale of 21% of the Tanzanian Government shares of the National Microfinance Bank (NMB) to raise 63 billion shillings ($54 million) and later to be listed on the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange. But the offer is open to to individual Tanzanians and companies that are whole owned by Tanzanians – unlike Stanbic (Ug) and Safaricom (Ke) (which Tanzanians were also barred from subscribing to)
its long over due for old mutual and others like BAAM to loosen-up their rules and a step in good direction.
Tanzanians have been postponing the NMB IPO for a while now. But their idea of keeping other East Africans out is so selfish. they should style up a bit.
NMB IPO: Unfortunately the IPO price of TZS 600 (Ksh 30/33) is way too high especially given the GDP of TZ and trading habits/ trends in DSE.
On a good day, only a paltry of 30,000 shares max are traded (low popularity of stocks). With 103 mn shares on offer it will be interesting on how individuals take-up the offer and if banks will offer loans for buying shares.
Also to watch is how much UUT and NICO-which already has as sizeable shareholding in NMB-will be staking to buy into their portfolios.
Perhaps as Kenyans, we can buy into NICO at TZS 370/400 making an indirect buy into NMB 🙂
As I have argued before… let’s lock TZ out of our gov’t IPOs…
Something very strange about this bongo-business…
From January, apparentyl East Africans will be able to trade in each other’s stock exchange…
The fear of Kenyans, yet again, by Tanzanians! When will this stop considering that they have welcomed South Africans?
Kenyans can easily make their DSE more money lakini “hatutaki hela za waKenya…”
In NBK’s next share sale, Tanzanians should be excluded
Coldtusker and Anonymous, I won’t worry so much about locking TZ our ot our Govt. IPO’s, they always lock themselves out ( Remember safcom IPO ).
Bankelele, any grapevine on when the NBK IPO might be?
Thanks Banks for the dose you give to your brothers here in diaspora…You wont believe how much you made OR SAVED some of us…in $$, thanks again for your commentaries, we love you.
I should have said your sisters and brothers in diaspora,also . thank u, because some of our husbands have to check on your comments before buying those stocks
Ol mutual should spice up from mediaval savings schemes that look like insurance policies.I bn thinking they are world class all along.
Banks,do out if they have the same “investment plans” in SA