SBM Bank (Kenya) Limited, previously known as Fidelity Commercial Bank Limited, is a

commercial bank A commercial bank is a financial institution which accepts deposits from the public and gives loans for the purposes of consumption and investment to make profit. It can also refer to a bank, or a division of a large bank, which deals with cor ...

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

, the largest economy in the

East African Community The East African Community (EAC) is an intergovernmental organisation composed of seven countries in the Great Lakes region of East Africa: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the United Republic of Tanzania, the Republics of Kenya, Burundi, ...

. It is licensed by the

Central Bank of Kenya The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) ( sw, Banki Kuu ya Kenya) is the monetary authority of Kenya. Its head office is located in Nairobi. CBK was founded by in 1966 after the dissolution of East African Currency Board (EACB). Dr. Patrick Ngugi Njoroge ...

, the country's

central bank A central bank, reserve bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the currency and monetary policy of a country or monetary union, and oversees their commercial banking system. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central ba ...

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 Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper ha ...

and

Mombasa Mombasa ( ; ) is a coastal city in southeastern Kenya along the Indian Ocean. It was the first capital of the British East Africa, before Nairobi was elevated to capital city status. It now serves as the capital of Mombasa County. The town is ...

. , 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

, 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 Chase Bank Kenya Limited (CBK), commonly referred to as Chase Bank, was a commercial bank in Kenya, licensed by the Central Bank of Kenya, the central bank and national banking regulator. Chase Bank was a large financial services provider in ...

, 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 Mauritians (singular Mauritian; french: Mauricien; Creole: ''Morisien'') are nationals or natives of the Republic of Mauritius and their descendants. Mauritius is a multi-ethnic society, with notable groups of people of South Asian (notably I ...

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

, 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.

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