the other day, i go to bank an inhouse cheque at a KCB branch. i decided to just ask for the sake of it how long the cheque will take to clear. the guy goes like '2-3 business days'. i said 'get serious young man'.

an inhouse cheque is technically a book transfer. ok, i would maybe have understood if i was depositing the cheque in Lokichoggio. but in Nairobi drawn on a branch in Nairobi? sure they want the float but 2-3 days for an inhouse cheque is so 1960s.

@ Mukiha,

Those guys seem to give you some superior services..ama your a shareholder, and the "divideds" are tamu sana

Jangwa & General - Same here like @mukiha. I first went to I&M coz I was given an open cheque. I liked the service. I opened an account.
(Unlike Equity, you have to supply photos)

The banking halls are nice, the account has decent feature & the service is great. Lakini the hours suck but they have ATMs at every branch as well as Sarit Center.

Anyway, if you tell the cashier you want your in-house chq credited asap. S/he will do it there & then.

@General; not me alone....it's just the way they work.

@VVS; Since the day I joined [year 2001], the Kenyatta avenue branch has been opening til 5pm. Today some branches have started opening 7 days a week. Thus I wouldn't say the hours are that bad.

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Have you seen their financials? Excellent. This bank should get listed....

The reason these guys operate this way is to make a little more from we poor kenyans. We're still some way from getting a fully mature banking system in the country. 2 days to clear internal checks is just unacceptable. But we must accept it, eh?

@mukiha - Which I&M branch is open on Sunday?

I&M bank are open on Sunday at Sarit Centre. In-house chq are given spot-value clearance, meaning you get credited hapo hapo. I have banked with them from the days of Biashara bank. They have a cool product called next gen. I made this account joint (with Wifey ofcourse) and we got issued with 2 Visa debit cards and we use it purely for our internal domestic shopping. Every time my wife rings up a cash register I receive an SMS to my mobile phone indicating the amount spent. It gives me control because it freaks out my wife that I know when and how much she is purchasing. Don't take me wrong, she is very prudent and I just shrug off the power it gives me to know what she is up to.

Lastly, even if you wanted, you will never stay longer than 5 mins in their banking halls. And I don't know how they did it, but they managed to shed that muhindiness of yore. Its pretty cool I must say. Even the muhindi front office personnel are comely and serve deligently, no airs or racial rubicons. I recommend them.

PS. This new site of Wazaledo's really got my knickers in a twist. For a week I have been battling with myself and the fear of change. I have just barely it made out of the woods.

@vitu,
Which barclays branch is open on sundays?

@mdosi - barclays at westgate lakini I understand (I am not a barclays customer) there is an 'after-hours' charge for the service!

How long does it take to open an account wit I&M?