By Otiato Guguyu | Saturday, Apr 1st 2017 at 15:06
https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/images/saturday/zqra4sji8sp5by6ab58df979736590.jpg
Family Bank Managing Director David Thuku.
On November 16, 2016, a man walked into a Family Bank branch and demanded to withdraw Sh8 million that he had saved overthe years. This was after rumours spread on social media that the lender would be closed by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK).
He was not taking no for an answer from the frantic managers who were trying to calm thousands of customers who, like him, wanted their money.
Three financial institutions — Dubai, Imperial and Chase banks — had been placed under receivership. Going by past incidents where depositors wait for long to be paid or only got a fraction of their savings when lenders were placed under statutory management, this time, customers wanted their money before things got worse. For Family Bank, this particular client camped at one of its two branches that stay open till 8pm, waiting to get his cash.
Eventually, he left the bank on night of November 16 with Sh8 million in cash but realised his mistake when he spotted other people and started imagining they were after him.
“He started feeling very scared. So he weighed his options: ‘If I go home these fellows will take the money, if I go back to that bank, they say it is going to shut, now what do I do?’,” a more reassured Family Bank CEO David Thuku, told Weekend Business.
The man, terrified, scampered back into the banking hall and offered Family Bank managers a deal. They could take the money, but only if they did not put it in the bank’s system.
“So he went home and came back early the following day because he feared that if he delayed, he might find CBK inside. He found the cash intact. After staying in the bank for an hour, hedecided to redeposit the cash,” Mr Thuku said.
