Nairobi, Dec. 10 -- Banks have chosen different benchmarks to price loans under the new risk based pricing formula, denying customers a uniform reference rate to assess the cost of borrowing.

The Central Bank of Kenya has noted that nearly half of the 37 lenders have opted for the Central Bank Rate (CBR) as their key reference rate with only a minority adopting Kesonia as their benchmark.

The final revised risk-based credit pricing model was to be anchored on the Kenya Shilling Overnight Interbank Average (Kesonia) which is the overnight lending rate among banks as rate as CBK pushed to strengthen the transmission of its monetary policy decisions.

The regulator however left the window for banks to use the CBR as a backup benchmark rate...