Banking
From The Report: Kenya 2017
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Kenya’s banking sector benefits from healthy fundamentals, which in turn has ensured steady growth in lending and assets, and strong performances for listed creditors. However, 2016 provided the sector with its fair share of challenges to navigate. Nevertheless, the outlook for the country’s lenders is positive. A key driver of growth among Kenyan banks remains their ability to tailor products that meet Kenyans’ needs, which has helped the country attain one of the highest financial inclusion rates in the developing world, at 75%. Sector challenges may have slowed growth temporarily, but the underlying fundamentals for Kenyan banks look strong and stable for the medium term. The country’s banks are fast-growing, responsive, innovative and increasingly well-regulated.

This chapter contains interview with Patrick Njoroge, Governor, Central Bank of Kenya; Lamin Manjang, Managing Director and CEO, Standard Chartered Bank Kenya; Joyce-Ann Wainaina, CEO, Citibank; and Jeremy Awori, Managing Director, Barclays Bank Kenya.

Articles from this Chapter

Overview

A solid base: Despite its fair share of challenges, fundamentals remain strong
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Kenya’s banking sector benefits from healthy fundamentals – a result due in large part to the Central Bank of Kenya’s (CBK) prudent regulatory oversight – which in turn has ensured steady growth in lending and assets, and strong performances for listed creditors. However, 2016 provided the sector with its fair share of challenges to navigate. Another bank closure – the third in two years – resulted in the issuing of arrest warrants and a takeover, while non-performing loans (NPLs) rose…

Interview

New normal: Patrick Njoroge, Governor, Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), on promoting stability and financial innovation
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What measures are being considered to further promote stability in the banking sector? PATRICK NJOROGE: The first point is that it is not just laws and regulations that strengthen the banking sector. Laws and regulations are important for giving a strong framework that is aligned with international best practices, but we discovered that our weakness was not so much in the framework as in its implementation. Most of what we have done over the past six months, as well as what we will continue…

Analysis

The next big thing: Small and medium-sized enterprises represent a key growth area for lending
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Jua Kaliis a commonly-used Swahili word that translates literally as “hot sun”. It is used to refer to the small, roadside businesses that sell everything from tires and laundry detergent to phone credit and oil changes. They include hawkers, small repair workshops, manufacturers and a host of entrepreneurial activities, including mobile money and other tech innovations. The term is a useful one to know in Kenya, given that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Kenya constitute…

Overview

Banking on it: Lamin Manjang, Managing Director and CEO, Standard Chartered Bank Kenya; Joyce-Ann Wainaina, CEO, Citibank; Jeremy Awori, Managing Director, Barclays Bank Kenya, on future developments
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Interview:Lamin Manjang, Joyce-Ann Wainaina and Jeremy Awori In light of the recent challenges, how would you evaluate performance in the banking sector? LAMIN MANJANG: I think that the speed to which Imperial, Chase and Dubai Bank were put into receivership by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has raised a lot of concerns about the health and stability of the banking sector in Kenya; it started with Dubai Bank being taken over, followed by Imperial Bank and most recently Chase Bank. There…