October 2018

Kenya. Pension burden as State to spend Sh104bn on retirees in two years

Kenya will spend Sh104 billion in the next two years to pay retired civil servants, raising the red flag on the government’s ability to support its retiring workers. The dilemma, however, remains how much State workers should set aside for their sunset days in an environment of increasing cost of living thanks to the tax burden. And the increasing number of pensioners and government’s struggles to support them in their old age is a major cause for concern, according to Enwealth...

Survey of the Kenyan Private Equity and Venture Capital Landscape

By Shanthi Divakaran (World Bank), Patrick McGinnis (World Bank), Sam Schneider (Independent) This paper discusses the landscape for private equity and venture capital financing in Kenya. It provides an overview of the private equity and venture capital market in the country, describing key players, including funds, fund managers, investors, and public sector entities. The paper provides an analysis of key market drivers and impediments, as well as legal/regulatory/taxation drivers and impediments that affect Kenya's private equity and venture capital industry. ...

Kenyan campaigners urge enhanced protection for elderly persons

Kenya requires a radical policy shift in order to cushion senior citizens from abject poverty, homelessness, illiteracy, diseases and social exclusion, campaigners said on Sunday on the eve of the International Day of Older Persons. The elderly campaigners said that promoting the welfare of the ageing population through robust social safety net programs is key to realize socio-economic progress in Kenya. "Today in Kenya, older activists are campaigning for universal quality healthcare, improved access to social protection, more affordable and accessible...

September 2018

Kenya. Pension schemes pool resources to fund infrastructure projects

Pension schemes under their newly-formed umbrella body, the Kenya Pension Fund Investment Consortium is eyeing big-ticket investment projects by pooling their resources. Zamara Group Chief Executive Officer Sundeep Raichura says that teaming up of local pensions funds will enable them invest in alternative investment asset classes including affordable housing, private equity, energy and infrastructure projects which would ordinarily be challenging if pension funds were to invest individually. The Kenya Pension Fund Investment Consortium is currently made up of 10 pension funds...

August 2018

Theresa May In Africa: The Future Of Fintech In South Africa, Nigeria And Kenya

A delegation of UK fintech specialists joined Prime Minister Theresa May on her first official trip to Africa and will visit South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya to meet with entrepreneurs to establish trading and export ties in these emerging markets. Representatives from Azimo, the Financial Conduct Authority, Standard Chartered, Farm.ink, the London Stock Exchange Group and the Prime Minister’s Ambassador for Fintech were just some of the 29 leaders that accompanied May on the trip in order to forge connections...

Pension cover in Kenya hits 20pc

Pension coverage among employed Kenyans has hit 20 per cent in the year to June 2017, going up from 16.7 per cent in 2015 on the back of recruitment of more Kenyan workers to retirement savings plans. Data from the Retirement Benefits Authority (RBA) shows that over 3.2 million Kenyans were covered under pension plans by June 2017, up from the 2.82 million Kenyan covered a year earlier. RBA chief executive Nzomo Mutuku attributed the growth of coverage to increased financial...

July 2018

Kenya. Land deal worsens Kenya Railways pensioners’ woes

As Kenya Railways pensioners’ woes deepen, officials of the former Kenya Railways Workers Association, the umbrella body for all the pensioners of the institution, have expressed fear that they risk losing 10 of their properties in a land swap deal in lieu of accrued land rates. They are reading a secret plot to defraud them of their properties. “The Nairobi County government and the sole corporate trustee, Corporate and Pension Trust Services Ltd, have hatched a scheme to possess 10 of...

Kenya. Counties owe Sh17bn in pension fund dues

County governments owe the County Pension Fund (CPF) more than Sh17 billion in unremitted contributions, the Nation has learnt. This emerged after the retirement fund expressed concern over delays in remittance of pension by the devolved units. Speaking at a Naivasha hotel on Saturday during an annual general meeting, CPF chief executive officer Hosea Kili said the anomaly was posing a major challenge to the operations of the umbrella savings scheme. Read more @Daily Nation

January 2018

Confidence in Retirement – How well are Kenyans prepared for retirement?

By Strathmore University The purpose of this study is to assess and evaluate the views and attitudes of working age Kenyans who are members of a registered workplace pension schemes. The study reveals the extent in which different factors influence individual’s level of optimism or pessimism about retirement as well as Kenyans actions to prepare for retirement. (more…)

November 2017

Kenya. Pensions raise stockholding as Nairobi bourse recovers

Pension schemes invested more in equities by cutting back on other investment classes in the third quarter as the stock markets rallied despite political intrigues. A survey of 372 schemes by consulting firm Zamara Group (formerly Alexander Forbes Financial Services EA) shows pension providers raised equity allocations to 23.9 per cent in the three months to September, up from 21.5 per cent in the previous quarter. It showed fixed income still had the largest share of investment by pension funds at...