Kenyans abroad must bring back Sh1,000 notes :CBK
Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) Governor Patrick Njoroge has said Anyone holding the old Sh1,000 bank notes outside the country will have to bring them back to exchange with the new currency before the October 1 deadline .
The CBK Governor on Thursday ruled out allowing any form of conversion of the old notes outside Kenya’s borders, indicating that the regulator had notified all foreign banks to stop recognising the legacy currency.
“The regulator is also not providing any new generation bank notes to lenders outside the country to facilitate conversion, arguing that this would defeat the goal of combating illicit money flows that have informed the move to demonetise the old Sh,1000 currency,” He said.
Both the Bank of Uganda and the Bank of Tanzania issued notices earlier this month freezing the conversion of the old Kenyan notes in their banks. They have also advised their countries’ banks to subject all flows to higher due diligence processes.
Those coming into the country to convert their notes will follow the same procedures laid out for locals.
Converting between Sh1 million and Sh5 million is happening at all commercial bank branches, where customers are expected to make declarations on the source of their cash.
Persons exchanging more than Sh5 million will need to get an endorsement from CBK, as will those exchanging more than Sh1 million but do not have bank accounts.
Dr Njoroge added that the net has been cast wider to forestall efforts to clean dirty money in other jurisdictions that carry out significant financial transactions with Kenya.The Kenyan shilling is commonly used to transact goods and services in neighbouring countries, especially now that East African Community rules allow free movement of people and goods across regional borders.
Dr Njoroge also ruled out making an extension to the October 1 deadline for the demonetization process, saying that doing so would provide those looking to get rid of illicit funds a loophole to do so.In his briefing yesterday, the governor also sought to allay emerging fears over the alleged counterfeiting of the new bank notes, revealing more details of their security features and the design process.
