The Retirement Benefits Authority (RBA) has directed trustees of Standard Chartered Kenya Pension Fund to undertake an independent review of claims raised by a section of the bank’s former employees who have asked to be compensated for past undervalued pensions.
They include over 500 former StanChart staff who were not part of a group of 629 colleagues who won a Sh2.4 billion tribunal suit against the lender for their undervalued dues.
The 629 former workers had argued that their lump sum dues were understated following a change in the bank’s pension scheme from a defined benefit (DB) to a defined contributory (DC) scheme in 1999.
On September 5, 2025, the Supreme Court upheld earlier judgments at the Court of Appeal and High Court, which upheld the Retirement Benefits Appeals Tribunal (RBAT) award to the former employees.
The new group, which describes itself as the “Non 629 Former Employees” in reference to those who were part of the tribunal suit, petitioned the RBA with a list of 21 claims against the lender to back the claim.
A letter to trustees by RBA chief executive officer Charles Machira dated June 15 directed the review of the claims to assess their validity in line with the tribunal ruling.
“Having reviewed the complaints and the above-mentioned judgement, the authority hereby directs the trustees to undertake a detailed and independent assessment of each of the claimants’ claims and to determine those claims in accordance with the findings, determinations and directives set out in the tribunal judgement within 90 days of this letter,” reads the RBA letter in part.
“For the avoidance of doubt, each claim shall be considered and determined on its own merits, having due regard to the specific factual circumstances, evidentiary materials and legal considerations applicable to each complainant.”
The claimants, however, reckon that the RBA has failed to address the full breadth of the 21 claims in the petition, mainly touching on defective actuarial valuations at the time of conversion of the scheme.
They have also called for a forensic audit to verify all asset and fund movements from 1998 to date, and for the RBA to allow additional former members to join the claims list without requiring a new petition.
The petitioners said that the RBA has only partially addressed a claim over an unlawful withdrawal of Sh1.125 billion from the combined fund in 1999. They argue that although the tribunal found it unlawful and ordered a refund of Sh4.67 billion, neither the bank nor the scheme have explained it will be paid into the non-629 claimants’ accounts.
The RBA also dismissed another claim by the group for the proceeds of the sale of Stanbank House in Nairobi in 2011 for Sh600 million. The claimants told the RBA that the money should have accrued to the defined contribution section of the scheme, as per a 2006 memo that outlined how the assets of the old scheme would be split between the DB and DC sections.
To back their claim, they said that StanChart transferred ownership of the building to its pension scheme in 1970, and should therefore not have taken and distributed the proceeds to its shareholders as dividends.
The RBA however said that the complainants had not identified any specific clauses of the RBA Act or the schemes trust deed and rules that were contravened in the property’s transactions.
Prior to reaching out to the RBA in October 2025, the petitioners had written to the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in September 2025 asking it to compel the lender’s British parent Standard Chartered Plc to act on their claims.
The claimants cited frustration in their engagement with the Kenyan unit, which in August 2025 told them that their request to be included in the compensation plan alongside their 629 colleagues lacked merit under law, adding that the matter was before the Supreme Court at the time.
