This archive report was first published on 20 July 2021.
On July 21, 2021, Co-op Bank revealed that it lost Sh1.3 billion in income due to Covid-19 relief measures implemented by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) in 2020.
The lost income, equivalent to 12.5 percent of its Sh10.8 billion net profit in the review period, came in the form of fee waivers on mobile money transactions and loan restructure.
Between March and April 2020, the CBK announced a series of actions aimed at boosting uptake of cashless transactions and offering financial relief to customers hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.
As a result, banks and telecommunications firms bore the brunt of the regulator's intervention, losing billions of shillings from the fee waivers.
Co-op Bank, for instance, lost Sh900 million from the scrapping of fees on cash transfers between mobile money platforms and bank accounts.
However, the CBK allowed the bank to resume charges on its mobile money wallet Mcoop Cash effective April 1, citing the need to ensure continued service availability to the co-operative sector whose main banker is Co-op Bank.
The lender reduced its charges significantly in the agreement with the regulator, with fees on the platform now ranging from zero to Sh50 depending on the transaction.
