Kenya’s third largest bank by assets, NCBA, has pulled its final dividend for last year of 1.50 shillings per share due to the coronavirus crisis, becoming the first lender in the East African nation to do so.
NCBA Group has announced they will instead offer investors a bonus share issue of one for every 10 held instead, it said in a statement issued early Tuesday. The lender was set to pay the dividend to shareholders on the books on April 23.
The board attributed the changed decision to the COVID-19 pandemic’s “devastating effects to the world and the Kenyan economy”.
Last month, the central bank directed lenders to restructure personal and business loans for borrowers who might get into distress due to the crisis to prevent it from spilling into the financial sector.