Editor's Review

The Kenyatta family leads the pack of highest earners in terms of dividends set to be paid out by banks for the financial year ended December 2020.

The family of the late Mzee Jomo Kenyatta leads the pack among beneficiaries of a combined Ksh17.1 billion set to be paid as dividends by registered banks in the country.

Other leading beneficiaries include the family of former Central Bank of Kenya Governor Philip Ndegwa, individual investors Baloobhai Patel and Co-operative Bank of Kenya Chief Executive Officer Gideon Muriuki.

The Kenyattas will take home Ksh326 million from their 13.2 percent stake in NCBA bank, which offers Ksh1.5 per share.

The Ndegwa family will receive Ksh290 million from their 11.2 percent stake in the same bank.

File image of President Uhuru Kenyatta and former first lady Mama Ngina Kenyatta. |Photo| Courtesy|

NCBA was formed following the merger between NIC Group and CBA Group.

Muriuki is set to pocket Ksh102 million after Co-op bank declared dividends of Ksh1 per share. Businessman Patel will take home Ksh34 million from his 0.58 percent ownership of Co-op bank.

The combined dividends of the two families, Muriuki and Patel stands at Ksh752 million. This marks the second year the high networth individual bank owners have taken home less than Ksh1 billion in dividends.

This can be attributed to Equity Group CEO James Mwangi's absence from the group. He used to earn Ksh377 million, which is the largest dividends earned by an investor from a single stock.

Mwangi owns 5 percent of Equity Group. The bank has refrained from remitting dividends for the years 2019 and 2020 citing the need to build capital resilience in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Banks were immensely affected in 2020 following the onset of the pandemic, with clients defaulting on loans, and seems to continue this year following the declaration of lockdowns in five counties and new curfew hours.

The eight banks listed on the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) which posted their earnings for the year 2020 have proposed to ay a total Ksh17.1 billion in dividends.