Customers of SBM Bank are raising concerns over delays in accessing their salaries after their employers processed payments on September 29.
Many employed customers are now claiming that the money remained unavailable despite repeated calls to the bank.
A customer who asked Nyakundi Report to conceal their identity says they expected to access their salary immediately after it was paid but were left waiting as the bank told them that it was still working on the issue.
The complaint has raised frustration among customers who depend on their salaries for transport, food, rent and other immediate expenses.
The complainant is particularly unhappy that a salary that had already been paid by the employer could remain inaccessible because of what they describe as a problem on the bank's side.
Hi Nyakundi post for me this kindly. SBM Bank is the most useless bank. Imagine we were paid on 29 but they are holding our money hadi sai. Calling them wanasema eti they are working on it. Imagine unaeza kosa fare na umelipwa juu ya fucking bank ya Mauritius. So bad, hide identity.”
The complaint comes as SBM Bank customers in Kenya use the institution for salary processing and other banking services, while the wider SBM Group is headquartered in Mauritius.
For employees who have already earned their salaries, a delay in accessing the money can create immediate problems.
A worker may have been paid on paper but still be unable to use the money to travel home, meet a loan repayment, buy food or settle other bills if the funds have not become available in the account.
The customer also raises a separate concern over SBM's salary advance facility, claiming that the interest charged is high despite the advance being repayable within only one month.
I also want to raise a concern about SBM’s salary advance facility, which I have personally found quite expensive. When I take a salary advance, I expect the charges to be reasonable because the money is only being advanced for a very short period and is supposed to be cleared from my next salary. What concerns me is the interest and other charges attached to the facility despite the repayment period being just one month. By the time the advance is deducted from my salary, I am left paying noticeably more than the amount I received. It becomes difficult to understand why a facility that runs for such a short period should attract what feels like such a high cost.
The question now is why salaries paid into SBM accounts on September 29 were still inaccessible to some customers, what caused the delay, and how much does the bank actually charge customers who take a salary advance for only one month?