SBM Bank (Kenya) Limited, previously known as Fidelity Commercial Bank Limited, is a
commercial bank in
Kenya, the largest economy in the
East African Community. It is licensed by the
Central Bank of Kenya, the country's
central bank and national banking regulator.
Overview
The bank is a medium-sized
retail bank
Retail banking, also known as consumer banking or personal banking, is the provision of services by a bank to the general public, rather than to companies, corporations or other banks, which are often described as wholesale banking. Banking servi ...
, serving mainly the urban areas of
Nairobi and
Mombasa. , SBM Bank Kenya had an asset base of KSh70,647,739,000 (approx. US$706.23 million), with shareholder's equity of KSh6,937,506,000 (approx. US$69.35 million).
After the Chase Bank acquisition in 2018, SBM Kenya accounted for 2.4 percent of all banking assets in the country.
The total assets inherited from Chase Bank in 2018, were valued at approximately US$600 million.
History
The institution was incorporated in 1988 as African Finance Company. In 1992, the finance company re-branded as Fidelity Finance Limited. In 1996, the institution re branded again as Fidelity Commercial Bank Limited, having been granted a banking license by the
Central Bank of Kenya, the national banking regulator.
In November 2016,
SEM listed
SBM Group announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire a majority stake in the bank. This process was concluded in May 2017 and the bank's name was changed to SBM Bank (Kenya) Limited.
In April 2018, SBM Holdings of Mauritius concluded the acquisition of the majority of assets and liabilities of
Chase Bank Kenya Limited, which had been under receivership since April 2016. It is expected that those assets and liabilities, together with the 1,300 Chase Bank employees, in about 62 branches, will be absorbed in SBM Bank Kenya.
Ownership
SBM Bank (Kenya) is a privately held institution. It is a subsidiary of
Mauritian based SBM Holdings. One other shareholder is the private equity firm Duet Group of the United Kingdom, which acquired its shareholding in March 2016 for KSh1.9 billion (approx. US$19 million).
Governance
James Birnie, one of the non-executive directors of the bank, serves as the
chairman
The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...
of the seven-member
board of directors
A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...
.
Purchase of Chase Bank Kenya
In January 2018, Kenyan regulators accepted the offer by SBM Holdings to acquire 75 percent of the assets and liabilities of
Chase Bank Kenya Limited, which was under receivership at the time. It is expected that the new acquisitions will be merged with the existing operations of SBM Kenya Limited.
That acquisition began in April 2018,
with conclusion planned for August 2018.
See also
*
CBK
*
List of banks in Kenya
This is a list of notable commercial banks in Kenya
; Licensed commercial banks
# ABC Bank (Kenya)
# Absa Bank Kenya
# Access Bank Kenya
# Bank of Africa
# Bank of Baroda
# Bank of India
# Citibank
# Consolidated Bank of Kenya
# Cooperative Ban ...
*
List of banks in Africa
*
Economy of Kenya�
References
External links
Website of Central Bank of Kenya
{{Nairobi
Companies based in Nairobi
Banks of Kenya
Banks established in 1988
1988 establishments in Kenya