Absa Bank Retirees Accuse the Bank of Unfair Treatment Over Their Pensioner's Savings

(Barclays Bank of Kenya LTD Pensioners Association (BBKPA) addressing the media in Nairobi)

Over the last decade former workers of Barclays Bank of Kenya-now ABSA Bank of Kenya, have lost half the value of their purchasing power due to inflation, poor management of their savings and unfair treatment of pensioners across different markets.

The pensioners say consultants Joanna Combrink and Colin Southey have told Absa Bank Kenya the purchasing power of the Absa Staff Pension Fund beneficiaries had decreased substantially (around 50 per cent over the last 13 years).

The former staffers of Absa Bank say their decades-long savings have not been earning them a decent enough return to beat years of inflation which has made it difficult to cope with the high cost of living.

The lender claims the market has not been generating higher returns during the good years, and worse still, has signalled even lower returns this year blaming it on the economic slowdown.

As Pensioners we hold that the poor performance of the fund is attributed to a lack of monitoring by the trustees to engage with their investment manager and poor investment decisions by the fund managers.

The bank has disregarded our input and we have lost our representation on the Board of Trustees after two of our members were not replaced when they retired but the Bank introduced more employees of the Bank as Trustees contrary to the Retirements Benefits Act.

After devoting years serving the bank, diligently setting aside their earnings for old age, we find it callous that the Absa Bank, a Pan African lender with a presence in 12 countries and half-of a trillion balance sheet, find it costly to take care of our interests after we have retired.

A fact pointed out by the consultants in their letter dated 3 June 2019 as they questioned whether penalizing pensioners for volatile investment returns is appropriate.

Regular payment of Annual increase in pension (COLA) stopped after ABSA took over as sponsors of the Pension Fund contrary to RBA Rules and regulations. The scheme has often paid less than the rate determined by the actuary and in 2020 rightly refused to pay.

ABSA refused a meeting with the pensioner's body (BBK Pensioners Association), forcing us to organise a Special AGM.

Joanna Combrink and Colin Southey found that the reputation of the Bank is at risk with this low level of pension increases for an extended period and the effect of this on pensioners.

What’s more Kenyan pensioners are not treated the same way as Absa treats South African pensionaboutd to annual pension increase.

We should be treated with the dignity we deserve as senior citizens.