DTB

Banks have stepped up dividend rewards to shareholders to lock in investors as share price collapse on exiting foreign investors. According to the Central Bank annual report, banks proposed dividends increased by Kes5.4 billion from Kes42 billion in December 2021 to Kes47.2 billion in December 2022. The higher payout helped boost the Return on Equity (RoE), which rose above pre-pandemic levels to 26.5 percent on higher returns to shareholders. Bank return on shareholders have rose from 22.3 percent in 2021 and 14.2 percent in 2020 when it collapsed on the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, a period during which lenders restricted shareholders’ dividend to conserve cash for…