Inside the 43-Year Standard Chartered–Manchester Outfitters Feud

Happy New Week👋🏽 from The Kenyan Wall Street.

In this Monday morning brief: The decades-long feud between StanChart and Machester Outfitters, Parliament’s latest moves in energy and capital markets, and the record-breaking success of the Tatu City SEZ.

Inside the 43-Year Standard Chartered–Manchester Outfitters Feud

By Harry Njuguna

A foreign-currency loan issued in 1982 has become one of the most extraordinary commercial disputes in Kenyan history.

What began as a routine facility between Manchester Outfitters and Standard Chartered Financial Services grew into a legal war that spanned four decades, generated conflicting judgments, and forced the courts to confront fundamental questions within Kenya’s lending framework.

The dispute outlived judges, advocates, corporate boards, and legal regimes. It passed through pre-1990s commercial courts, the old Court of Appeal, and finally into the Supreme Court created by the 2010 Constitution.

After a 35-year legal battle that began in 1990, the Supreme Court has now delivered a final judgment that reinstated the earliest substantive decision in the record: the 1999 High Court judgment that had been overshadowed for more than two decades.

Read more about this unique precedent-setting case»»»

Parliament Orders Full Disclosure of Private Power Owners as it Lifts Freeze

By Brian Nzomo

The National Assembly has ordered a sweeping disclosure of who owns the country’s Independent Power Producers (IPPs), directing the Business Registration Service (BRS) to submit a full list of shareholders and beneficial owners within six months. The transparency move is one of the conditions, which include currency flexibility and competitive auctions, intergrated into lifting a yearslong moratorium on new IPP deals. Read More»»»

In the Markets

Parliament Removes Ownership Caps for Capital Market Intermediaries

By Harry Njuguna

Parliament has voted to remove long-standing statutory ownership caps on capital markets firms, a regulatory shift designed to attract larger investors and accelerate the sector's growth. The new repeals fixed limits that barred any single investor from holding more than one-third of entities such as investment banks, stockbrokers, fund managers, and derivatives brokers.  The reform clears the way for potential market consolidation, as larger local and foreign investors can now take controlling stakes in intermediaries, particularly those seeking recapitalization. Read the story here »»»»»

More in Markets

OPINION

Should Access to Credit Be a Considered a Human Right?

By Julius Ouma

Credit is not merely a financial instrument. It is the difference between survival and progress; between operating at the margins of the economy and building a livelihood with dignity. Without access to finance, a farmer cannot expand production, a small trader cannot stock inventory, and a young entrepreneur cannot scale an idea into a thriving business.

If we can guarantee education, water, or healthcare, why can't we guarantee financial access—the very thing that allows people to pay for these services and improve their lives? Julius Ouma, the Managing Director of Faulu Microfinance Bank writes  »»»

On Your Watchlist

 In this exclusive interview, Solomon Mahinda, Executive Vice President of Tatu City, breaks down the project’s success, its Special Economic Zone (SEZ) advantage, and its massive impact on job creation and FDI in Kenya.

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