Stanchart Announces 4M as the Minimum Balance for Priority Banking

As it raises the bar for its customers to enjoy one of its most prestigious retail banking products, Standard Chartered Bank will downgrade its Kenyan clients from their affluent banking status, known as Priority Banking, if they fail to maintain a minimum account balance of Sh4 million, deposit Sh4 million monthly, or apply for a mortgage worth at least Sh12 million.

Customers can choose to invest Sh4 million or have an average of Sh4 million in deposits and investments each month to continue receiving priority services from the lender.

Customers who don’t achieve the standards will be downgraded to Premium status at the end of the year, StanChart informed its priority banking customers in a statement.

“To continue enjoying your priority banking status and benefits, we encourage you to maintain one of the above criteria. Should you not qualify for priority banking at the end of this year, we will migrate you to premium banking where a premium executive will be at hand to assist you with all your banking needs,” the lender said in the October 10 communication to customers.

Priority banking is described by the lender as an affluent banking product designed to help clients increase their wealth and achieve financial freedom. With a number of features that are unavailable to other clients, the service caters to company executives or senior managers. The minimum monthly net wage requirement for priority banking is Sh300,000.

The lender says that such consumers are urged to have that rather than making it explicitly clear that having Sh4 million in their account balance, investing Sh4 million, or taking out a Sh12 million mortgage is a requirement for subscribing to its priority banking.

“The main goal of Priority Banking is to grow the client’s wealth. The exercise of assessing clients is completed annually. There has not been a change of this criterion for at least 10 years. Clients are encouraged to have Asset Under Management in Investments or Deposits or both of Sh4 million and above or home loan of Sh12 million and above,” said Paul Njoki, the lender’s head of wealth management, Kenya and East Africa.

“This entails reviewing the products that we offer in alignment with market changes to ensure the client receives the best experience with our bank. We recently wrote to our clients to update them on enhancements to the Priority category, which is an exercise we undertake every year,” Mr Njoki said.

“We, therefore, invite clients to have detailed conversations with their relationship managers and to agree on the best outcome based on the client’s needs and aspirations. I would emphasize ‘aspirations’ as the Priority relationship is geared to achieving the client’s life goals.”