The Central Bank of Kenya has suspended Absa Bank Kenya’s foreign exchange license for seven days. This is after the bank failed to report specific foreign exchange trades it conducted in March 2020.
In a statement today, CBK governor Dr. Patrick Njoroge said in investigating these and other transactions, it was evident that Absa flouted the anti-money laundering rules during the trade hence the actions.It said Absa did not have satisfactory assurance of the underlying commercial transactions supporting the trades, as required.
Consequently, Absa Bank has been ordered to reverse the market positions that were created as a result of the alleged transactions.
Absa has further been instructed to, by next Wednesday, put in place a robust framework that ensures all relevant documents for such foreign exchange transactions are available as required and also to ensure the other requirements are adhered to.
This move comes barely three months since transforming from Barclays.
The lender is expected to complete the rebranding and transition process before June 2020.