BloombergKenyan lenders must adjust their business models to adapt to a new era of lower profits as interest-rate caps curb investor returns, Central Bank of Kenya Governor Patrick Njoroge said. For the country’s biggest lenders, the drop was more severe, slumping to 23 percent from almost 35 percent. The “golden period” for Kenyan banks might have ended with the rate-cap law and lenders should brace for a “structural decline in profitability,” Exotix Partners LLP said in a note on May 18. The cap resulted in a 5.7 percent decline in lending to small businesses between August last year, when it was announced, and April, the central bank said. The regulator is holding discussions with bank executives and urging them to diversify revenue streams to build their resilience, Njoroge said.

Source: Taipei Times May 31, 2017 16:16 UTC