KENYA – Standard Chartered Bank Kenya has appointed two new directors to replace Eng. Patrick Obath and Ian Bryden who left the board one month ago.

The new directors are technology and innovation expert Nivedita Sharma and banking professional Birju Sanghrajka.

Nivedita will serve as a non-executive director on the board chaired by Kellen Eileen Kariuki.

She is a tech expert and currently serves as the Chief Operating Officer at BRCK, a software company that provides free public Wi-Fi to low-income neighborhoods in Nairobi.

Nivedita Co-founded eLimu, a company credited for digitizing the Kenyan Primary School curriculum for revision and literacy and serves on different boards including on the Board of Software Technologies Limited and is a member of the Advisory Board of Jaza Energy.

Nivedita has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Ithaca College, New York, US and is a 2014 Acumen East Africa fellow.

Birju Sanghrajka takes up the role of executive director of Standard Chartered Bank Kenya Limited. He has been with the bank for the past 22 years and has worked in various roles including corporate banking, corporate finance and transaction banking in Kenya, the United Kingdom, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates.

Currently, Birju heads Standard Chartered’s Corporate, Commercial and Institutional Banking Client Coverage business in East Africa where he oversees the delivery of exceptional service to clients.

Birju holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Economics and Finance from Loughborough University, UK.

Standard Chartered bank welcomed the new appointees to the 11 member board.

In June 2021 the Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed lender appointed Kellen Kariukias the new Chairperson of the Board of directors of Standard Chartered Bank Kenya, following the retirement of Engineer Patrick Obath.

Her appointment took effect from May 31, 2021.

Prior to her appointment to chair the board, she served as an independent non-executive director of the board since her appointment on 10th February 2021.

Kellen has rich experience in the banking and finance industry having served in various top leadership roles at Citi Bank North America for more than 20 years.

“The lender reported a 20 percent growth in earnings for the first three months to March 31, 2021, on a steady income as the economy slightly rebounded from the Covid-19 impact”

She was the first CEO and Managing Trustee of the Unclaimed Financial Assets Authority of Kenya (UFAA).

She is also a non-executive director at AMREF Health Africa International and a Board Member of the Strathmore University Foundation.

Kellen Kariuki has a Master of Science in International Human Resource Management from Cranfield University in the UK.

In addition, she holds an MBA in Strategic Management and a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from USIU-Africa.

The lender reported a 20 percent growth in earnings for the first three months to March 31, 2021, on a steady income as the economy slightly rebounded from the Covid-19 impact.

Quarter 1 results show the lender’s net profit rose to US$22.2 million compared to US$18.5 million over a similar period in 2020.

The growth which rose to the pre-Covid-19 levels of 2019 is also attributed to the slashing of operational costs.

The lender’s non-interest-related expenses fell by 7.5 percent in the period to US$34.3 million driven by the completion of a staff rationalization exercise and lower loan loss provisions.

While operating expenses dropped,  income rose marginally by 1.4 percent to US$65.7 million. 

Total non-interest funded income grew to US$23 million from US$20.4 million, compensating an 8.2 percent drop in total interest income to US#51.9 million.

Despite the Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed lender reporting a drop in loan loss provision, its non-performing loan rose to  11.5 percent as borrowers struggled to repay primarily due to Covid-19 economic hurdles.

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