Commercial banks have grappled with a year of changing regulations, making them cling on government paper to stabilise their earnings.
Last year started with uncertainty over transitioning from International Accounting Standard (IAS) 39 to International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS 9).
The new norm is forward looking as opposed to IAS 39, which was historical and this meant banks were to increase the level of provisioning and become stricter in calculating performing and non-performing loans. This put pressure on their capital.
The changes came at a time credit to private sector was also falling due to the rate cap law that was introduced in 2016.
As banks continued to seek a way out through layoffs, digitization of services and closure of branches, the debate on removing the caps emerged.
In March, the National Treasury announced the push to remove the caps, which had been described by Central Bank of Kenya as “putting brakes” on the economy.
The Treasury then started preparing a consumer protection law to replace the legal caps on commercial lending rates. In May, Financial Markets Conduct Bill was published, proposing to abolish rate cap.
While Treasury said the law was meant to promote a fair, non-discriminatory market place for access to credit and provide uniform practices, Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) opposed the move saying it would make CBK a toothless dog.
At the same time, Kenya committed to International Monetary Fund (IMF) that it would makes adjustments to its economic policies including the possibility of scrapping the interest rates cap. This was part of conditions for getting Sh152 billion precautionary facility.
This lifted the confidence of banking stocks at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE),leading to rebounding of prices as investors priced in the possibility of removing rate caps. However, this would later hit a snag in August after Parliament voted to retain the caps.
But in the process, MPs agreed to remove the legal requirement that lenders pay at least 70 percent of the CBK base rate on deposits. This opened room for banks such as Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) and National Bank of Kenya to lower interest payments on deposits.
Lenders also faced new tax measures in the 2018/2019 budget statement that was presented in Parliament in June.
Treasury had recommended Robin Hood tax which required any cash transfers of Sh500,000 or to pay 0.05 percent tax.
This was contested in court by Kenya Bankers Association, arguing that the term ‘money transfer’ was vague and that they needed more time to comply since the computer software in use was not configured to support the charges.