This archive report was first published on 9 January 2020.
January 9, 2020, marked a significant shift in the banking landscape in Kenya, as banks began to charge customers for closing their accounts.
According to a report by FSD Kenya, the process of closing an account, which was previously a lengthy and tedious process, now takes between 10-30 minutes.
However, this convenience comes at a cost, with customers required to pay closing fees and the last ledger fee.
For an assumed final withdrawal of Kshs 10,000 at a branch, the total expenditure required includes closing fees and the last ledger fee, as illustrated in the image below.
Notably, some data for the DTB-Current account is missing because the account was closed before the end of the survey.
The report, Cost of banking, 2018, notes that the process of closing an account has been streamlined and made easier, but at a cost to customers.
