StanChart names Obath chairman

Standard Chartered Bank (Kenya) #ticker:SCBK has appointed Patrick Obath as board chairman to replace Anne Mutahi whose five-year tenure ended in December.

A career mechanical engineer, Mr Obath will head the lender’s board for five years as it shifts focus to digital banking.

Mrs Mutahi who also doubles as the special advisor to President Uhuru Kenyatta on Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) was the first woman to sit at the helm of the bank’s board.

She took over in January 2014 after previously serving as an independent non-executive director since 2009.

“I have total confidence that Standard Chartered Bank will do much better in the coming years,” Mrs Mutahi said when she handed over to Mr Obath at the bank’s annual general meeting yesterday.

Mr Obath joined Standard Chartered in 2012 as a non-executive director after past stints as the Country Chairman and Managing Director for Kenya Shell.

He has previously chaired the Kenya Private Sector Alliance (Kepsa) and is also a director at Kenya Power and Lightning Company (KPLC) #ticker:KPLC. He is also serving non-executive director at Unga Group Plc #ticker:UNGA since 2013.

The changes come two months after Kariuki Ngari replaced Mr Lamin Manjang as the chief executive officer. Mr Manjang left to head the bank’s West African region.

Standard Chartered, Kenya’s fifth biggest lender by asset size reported a 31.1 percent jump in net profit for the year’s first quarter ended in March.

The Nairobi Stock Exchange-listed lender reported a Sh2.4 billion in net earnings up from Sh1.8 billion in similar period last year making it the biggest growth of all big banks that have so far released their first quarter results.