Nairobi, April 13 -- Large banks, including those with deep-pocketed multinational parents, were last year forced to seek rescue loans from the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), pointing to a major liquidity crisis that roiled the financial sector.

Regulatory disclosures by Kenya's nine top-tier banks show that balances in the year to December jumped nearly three times to Sh126.5 billion as financiers like Absa and Stanbic that earlier avoided the emergency loans rushed to the lender of last resort.

Banks borrow from the CBK window against securities like the Treasury bonds and bills to meet short-term liquidity crunch due to increased demand for cash from savers.

In 2022, the nine large banks together tapped Sh44.2 billion from the CBK wit...