Former Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua joins KCB board

Former Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua.

Former Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua has joined the board of directors of KCB Group, barely six months after he retired from the civil service.

Mr Kinyua’s appointment as a non-executive director of the bank took effect last Friday.

“Heis credited with effectively holding a pivotal role in implementing key government initiatives and reforms including the liberalisation of the banking sector, the foreign exchange market, and the trade and capital accounts of the balance of payments among other initiatives,” KCB Group company secretary Bonnie Okumu said in a statement.

Joining the government as a fresh-faced economist attached to the Central Bank of Kenya in 1980, the 70-year-old Mr Kinyua rose through the ranks to be an earshot away from the most powerful men in Kenya—Presidents Mwai Kibaki, Uhuru Kenyatta, and William Ruto.

KCB Group's net profit grew 19.5 percent to Sh40.8 billion in the financial year that ended December on increased interest and non-interest income.

The rise in net profit from Sh34.2 billion realised in the previous year was buoyed by increased interest and non-interest income during the review period.

Customer loans increased by 27.8 percent to Sh863 billion from additional lending in the Kenya business, increased lending in the international businesses, and the acquisition of DRC Congo’s Trust Merchant Bank (TMB).

The growth in the bank's loan book saw the net interest income increase by 11.5 percent to Sh86.65 billion. Non-funded income grew by 39.8 percent to Sh43.25 billion largely from trade finance income, lending fees, and commissions.

Operating expenses however rose from Sh60.82 billion to Sh72.6 billion on the back of increased staff costs and provisioning for loan defaults.