Commercial Bank of Africa Group (CBA Group) is a financial services provider in

East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa: Due to the historical ...

. Its headquarters are located in Nairobi, Kenya, with subsidiaries in Kenya,

Rwanda Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...

, Tanzania, Uganda and

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

. The CBA Group is a large financial services group in East Africa, with an asset base valued at KSh:234.79 billion (US$2.343 billion), with shareholders' equity of KSh:28.38 billion (US$283.2 million), as of 30 September 2017.

History

Commercial Bank of Africa was established in 1962 in

Dar es Salaam Dar es Salaam (; from ar, دَار السَّلَام, Dâr es-Selâm, lit=Abode of Peace) or commonly known as Dar, is the largest city and financial hub of Tanzania. It is also the capital of Dar es Salaam Region. With a population of over s ...

, Tanzania as a subsidiary of Swiss-based ''Société Financière pour les Pays d'Outre-Mer'' (SFOM). The SFOM consortium included BanqueNationale de Paris,

Bank Bruxelles Lambert Bank Brussels Lambert (BBL, french: Banque Bruxelles Lambert) was a Belgian bank that was created through merger in 1975 and became part of ING Group in 1998. It provided retail and commercial banking services to individuals and businesses in Belgi ...

, Commerz Bank and Bank of America. Branches of the bank were established in Nairobi and Mombasa, Kenya. Another branch was opened in Kampala, Uganda. In 1967, the Government of Tanzania nationalized all commercial banks in the country as part of the government's nationalization of large industries in its execution of the

Arusha Declaration The Arusha Declaration ( sw, Azimio la Arusha) and TANU’s Policy on Socialism and Self Reliance (1967), referred to as the Arusha Declaration, is known as Tanzania’s most prominent political statement of African Socialism, ‘Ujamaa’, or ...

. This nationalization led the bank to move its headquarters to Nairobi. In 1971, the Ugandan business was sold off to

Barclays Bank of Uganda Absa Bank Uganda Limited, formerly known as Barclays Bank of Uganda Limited, is a commercial bank in Uganda. It is licensed by the Bank of Uganda, the central bank and national banking regulator. The bank is a subsidiary of Absa Group Limited, a ...

. This was due to the then prevailing political instability in the country.

BOA Kwon Bo-ah (; born November 5, 1986), known professionally as BoA, is a South Korean singer, songwriter, dancer, record producer and actress. One of the most successful and influential Korean entertainers, she has been dubbed the " Queen of K- ...

gained majority control of CBA in 1981 after BOA acquired shares held by other shareholders in the bank except for 16% that was held by local shareholders. Between 1984 and 1991, BOA re-organised CBA, developing and installing Bank of America's global systems and disciplines before selling its majority shares to local Kenyan investors. Bank of America continued to provide management to the bank via a management agreement before eventually selling the rest of its shares in 1991. Since then, CBA became a wholly owned Kenyan bank recognised for operational efficiency and quality service delivery. In July 2005,

Commercial Bank of Africa Commercial Bank of Africa (CBA) was a financial services provider headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, the largest economy in the East African Community. CBA was licensed by the Central Bank of Kenya, the central bank and national banking regulator. ...

(CBA) acquired majority shareholding in First American Bank of Kenya. At that time First American owned a subsidiary in Tanzania called United Bank of Africa. This marked the bank's reentry into Tanzania after the 1967 nationalization of its operations in the country. In 2007, United Bank of Africa changed its name to

Commercial Bank of Africa (Tanzania) Commercial Bank of Africa (Tanzania) (CBAT) is a commercial bank in Tanzania. It is licensed by the Bank of Tanzania, the country's central bank and national banking regulator. The bank is a subsidiary of the Commercial Bank of Africa Group and ha ...

leading to the formation of the

CBA Group Commercial Bank of Africa Group (CBA Group) is a financial services provider in East Africa. Its headquarters are located in Nairobi, Kenya, with subsidiaries in Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Ivory Coast. The CBA Group is a large financi ...

. In March 2012, CBA Group initiated action to acquire a 62% stake in

Royal Bank Zimbabwe Royal Bank Zimbabwe, whose complete name is Royal Bank Zimbabwe Limited, commonly referred to as Royal Bank, was a licensed commercial bank in that formerly operated in Zimbabwe. Overview Royal Bank was a privately owned financial institution and ...

, a Harare-based commercial bank. However, both parties failed to finalize on the deal within given regulatory time frames. On July 31, 2012, The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe determined Royal Bank to be insolvent. Royal Bank then surrendered its banking licence and closed down. CBA Group re-entered the Ugandan market in 2014 through its wholly owned subsidiary, Commercial Bank of Africa Uganda Limited making it the 26th commercial bank in the Uganda. In 2016, Commercial Bank of Africa Group announced plans to establish its mobile banking service M-Shwari in

in collaboration with the telecommunications conglomerate, MTN International. In December 2016, the CBA Group acquired a Rwandan Microfinance banking licence, thereby establishing

Commercial Bank of Africa (Rwanda) NCBA Bank Rwanda, formerly ''Commercial Bank of Africa (Rwanda)'', is a commercial bank in Rwanda. NCBA Bank Rwanda is one of the Kenyan-owned bank subsidiaries to launch operations in Rwanda. The bank is a subsidiary of the NCBA Group Plc, a ...

, also CBA Bank Rwanda. In mid-2017, negotiations for CBA Bank Rwanda to acquire

Crane Bank Rwanda Crane Bank Rwanda was a commercial bank in Rwanda, licensed by National Bank of Rwanda, the central bank and national banking regulator. In June 2017, the Commercial Bank of Africa signed an agreement to acquire the assets to Crane Bank of Rwanda ...

were concluded, but required regulatory approval from the

National Bank of Rwanda The National Bank of Rwanda ( rw, Banki Nkuru Y'u Rwanda, french: Banque Nationale du Rwanda) is the central bank of Rwanda. The bank was founded in 1964. The current governor of the bank is John Rwangombwa. Location It is quartered at the N ...

, the Central Bank of Kenya and the Bank of Uganda. Crane Bank in Uganda had failed and its assets and liabilities in Uganda had been acquired by

DFCU Bank DFCU Bank, registered as the Development Finance Company of Uganda Bank Limited, is a commercial bank in Uganda. It is licensed by the Bank of Uganda (BoU), Uganda's central bank and national banking regulator. Overview As of December 2021, DFC ...

. However, DFCU did not want to keep the Rwandan subsidiary. The deal was concluded during the first quarter of 2018 and CBA Bank Rwanda opened with three branches in

Kigali Kigali () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Rwanda. It is near the nation's geographic centre in a region of rolling hills, with a series of valleys and ridges joined by steep slopes. As a primate city, Kigali has been Rwa ...

Merger with NIC Group Plc

In December 2018, CBA Group announced that it would be merging with NIC Group Plc creating Kenya's third-biggest bank. The merger involved the transfer of 100 percent of the shares of CBA Group by its shareholders to NIC Group in exchange for 53 percent of the newly formed group, making the deal a reverse merger. The Transaction was approved by the Kenyan regulators and shareholders by April 2019. , the merged group was still operating two sets of banks in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania but was in the process of seeking regulatory approval to merge these businesses so that they can have one bank in each country and a group rebranding.

Member Companies

The companies that compose the CBA Group include: * Commercial Bank of Africa (Kenya): Nairobi, Kenya – 100% shareholding - A commercial bank in Kenya, serving individuals and businesses. This is the flagship company of the group. *

, Tanzania – 100% shareholding - A commercial bank in Tanzania, serving both individuals and businesses. *

Commercial Bank of Africa (Uganda) The Commercial Bank of Africa (Uganda) (CBAU) is a commercial bank in Uganda. The bank opened in 2014, following the issuance of a commercial banking license by the Bank of Uganda, the central bank and the national banking regulator. The bank is a ...

: Kampala, Uganda : 100% shareholding - A commercial bank in Uganda, serving both individuals and businesses. *

* CBA Insurance Agency Limited: Nairobi, Kenya – 100% shareholding - Offering Bancassurance services. CBA Group owns 100% of the company. * CBA Capital Limited – Nairobi, Kenya – 100% shareholding - An investment bank licensed by the Capital Markets Authority. CBA Group owns 100% of the company. * CBA Property Holdings Limited – Nairobi, Kenya – 100% shareholding - Property Holding company * AIG Kenya Insurance Company Limited – Nairobi, Kenya – 33.33% shareholding the balance held by the American International Group. - Offering general insurance. * CBA Ivory Coast - Abidjan,

- CBA Group, in collaboration with MTN Group, offers M-Shwari mobile-money service in Ivory Coast.

Ownership

The stock of Commercial Bank of Africa Group is privately held. The Kenyatta family controls 24.91 percent of CBA through an investment vehicle called Enke Investments Limited. The table below illustrates the shareholding in the company

stock In finance, stock (also capital stock) consists of all the shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided.Longman Business English Dictionary: "stock - ''especially AmE'' one of the shares into which ownership of a company ...

, as of December 2017.

References

External links