Standard Chartered Retirees can now find relief as the High Court has issued an order mandating the bank to disburse KES 30 billion in pension benefits to 629 former bank employees.
This verdict comes after the bank contested a decision by the Retirement Benefits Tribunal, which had earlier determined that KES 30 billion should be allocated to the retirement benefits of these 629 former employees.
This application was filed alongside five members who serve as trustees of the Standard Chartered Kenya Pension Fund.
The High Court’s judgment highlighted that Standard Chartered Bank had misrepresented its approach to calculating pension benefits for its former employees, unjustly reducing the benefits they were rightfully entitled to receive. The trustee overseeing the bank’s benefits scheme expressed concerns regarding the legal propriety of the High Court’s decision and emphasized the need for a comprehensive review.
The Retirement Benefits Tribunal had initially ordered the bank to disclose the actuarial methods employed in determining the retirees’ benefits. The court clarified that although it did not identify fraudulent misrepresentation, it did find evidence of concealment, non-disclosure, and misrepresentation in the actuarial calculations.
The court further directed Standard Chartered to factor in the costs of living adjustments, including housing allowances and future payments. However, the defendant argued that the court’s inclusion of three contradictory actuarial methods was unlawful.
The bank expressed apprehension about the substantial financial implications it would face if required to bear the pension burden for the 629 retirees. Additionally, the bank contended that the court’s directive to recalculate the pensions using two insufficient methods was legally unsound.
Furthermore, Standard Chartered argued that some of the petitioners were ineligible for their pensions as they had retired early.
According to the trust deed governing the retirement scheme, eligibility for pension is contingent upon retiring at the stipulated age, with exceptions made for ill health and incapacity to work, criteria that the trust had rigorously followed during benefits administration.
