NBK appeals to CS Mucheru to fix the menace of rogue bloggers

National Bank of Kenya has today written to the banking industry regulator Central Bank of Kenya and government through the cabinet Secretary for ICT seeking their intervention in dealing with increasing cases of rogue bloggers.

The bank, which in the final phase of a major transformation program, confirmed that it had become the latest victim of irresponsible blogging.

“They start with several threats to publish certain falsehoods. If you do not respond worried, they then publish the first of the malicious articles- without any request for an official response. If the company still does not respond to their threats, they publish another one and continue the cycle of threats. Unlike the media houses who always seek the correct position and clarifications from institutions, rogue bloggers remain a great risk for reputation- sensitive institutions like banks,” said Bernardette Ngara, Marketing Director at National Bank of Kenya.

The Bank said it was particularly concerned by a case of a rogue social media user who has continued to spread malicious and untruthful information about banks and other companies, in alleged extortion scams.

“We have requested the intervention of the regulator and government because this kind of unethical practices by social media users cannot be tolerated. NBK supports responsible blogging,” said Ms Ngara. National Bank of Kenya added it has maintained a policy to respond to information requests from journalists which has earned the support of media and helped the public better understand the transformation program at the bank.

NBK is in the final phase of a major 5 year transformation program initiated in 2013 by the Bank’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Mr. Munir Sheikh Ahmed. It comprises of a list of 50 projects envisioned to transform the bank into a top tier lender in the region by 2017.

The bank said the program initially faced pockets of resistance, mostly due to the introduction of performance based management. Also, with the bank’s quest to rationalize the workforce, there was the introduction of the Voluntary Employee Retirement in 2014. Persons who were not able to adapt to the new high performance culture and structural changes in the Bank opted to retire through the voluntary programme.

This resistance, the bank said,  has since dissipated following implementation of a set of human resource (HR) projects under the program that have resulted in favorable internal HR environments. The Transformation Program has also catalyzed excellence in the bank’s performance which has continued to improve year on year, earning the pride of employees and stakeholders.   

The newly re-branded bank has moved up several positions to be one of Kenya’s largest lenders. In the Q3 YTD update, NBK announced the Bank’s best performance in 48 years with a Ksh 3.3 Billion PBT. This compares to Ksh2.43 Billion in FY 2014, Ksh1.8 Billion in FY2013 and Ksh 0.7B in FY2012. The program now enjoys wide support from employees and shareholders.

National Bank of Kenya is regulated by the Central Bank of Kenya and the Capital Markets Authority