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

East Africa East Africa, also known as Eastern Africa or the East of Africa, is a region at the eastern edge of the Africa, African continent, distinguished by its unique geographical, historical, and cultural landscape. Defined in varying scopes, the regi ...

. Its headquarters are located in

Nairobi Nairobi is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Kenya. The city lies in the south-central part of Kenya, at an elevation of . The name is derived from the Maasai language, Maasai phrase , which translates to 'place of cool waters', a ...

, Kenya, with subsidiaries in

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

Rwanda Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by ...

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

and

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

. 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 ) is the largest city and financial hub of Tanzania. It is also the capital of the Dar es Salaam Region. With a population of over 7 million people, Dar es Salaam is the largest city in East Africa by population and the ...

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, Commerz Bank and

Bank of America The Bank of America Corporation (Bank of America) (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment banking, investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in ...

. Branches of the bank were established in

and

Mombasa Mombasa ( ; ) is a coastal city in southeastern Kenya along the Indian Ocean. It was the first capital of British East Africa, before Nairobi was elevated to capital status in 1907. It now serves as the capital of Mombasa County. The town is ...

. Another branch was opened in

Kampala Kampala (, ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,875,834 (2024) and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kampala, Kawempe Division, Kawempe, Makindy ...

. In 1967, the

Government of Tanzania The politics of Tanzania takes place in a framework of a unitary state, unitary presidential system, presidential Democracy, democratic republic, whereby the President of Tanzania is both head of state and head of government, and of a multi-party ...

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 () 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 brotherhood (Kaiti ...

. This nationalization led the bank to move its headquarters to Nairobi. In 1971, the Ugandan business was sold off to Barclays Bank of Uganda. This was due to the then prevailing political instability in the country. BOA 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 (CBA) acquired majority shareholding in First American Bank of Kenya. At that time First American owned a subsidiary in

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) leading to the formation of the CBA Group. In March 2012, CBA Group initiated action to acquire a 62% stake in Royal Bank Zimbabwe, a

Harare Harare ( ), formerly Salisbury, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of , a population of 1,849,600 as of the 2022 Zimbabwe census, 2022 census and an estimated 2,487,209 people in its metrop ...

-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), also CBA Bank Rwanda. In mid-2017, negotiations for CBA Bank Rwanda to acquire Crane Bank Rwanda were concluded, but required regulatory approval from the

National Bank of Rwanda The National Bank of Rwanda (, ) is the central bank of Rwanda. The bank was founded in 1964. The current governor of the bank is Soraya Munyana Hakuziyaremye. Location It is quartered at the National Bank of Rwanda Building, on KN6 Avenue in ...

, the Central Bank of Kenya and the Bank of Uganda.

Crane Bank Crane Bank Limited was a commercial bank in Uganda licensed and supervised by the Bank of Uganda (BOU), the central bank and national banking regulator. Crane Bank was acquired by DFCU Bank in January 2017 at a cost of Ush200 billion ($52.8 milli ...

in Uganda had failed and its assets and liabilities in Uganda had been acquired by DFCU Bank. 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 is a relativ ...

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 A reverse takeover (RTO), reverse merger, or reverse IPO is the acquisition of a public company by a private company so that the private company can bypass the lengthy and complex process of going public. Sometimes, conversely, the public compa ...

. 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):

– 100% shareholding - A commercial bank in Kenya, serving individuals and businesses. This is the flagship company of the group. * Commercial Bank of Africa (Tanzania):

– 100% shareholding - A commercial bank in Tanzania, serving both individuals and businesses. * Commercial Bank of Africa (Uganda):

: 100% shareholding - A commercial bank in Uganda, serving both individuals and businesses. * Commercial Bank of Africa (Rwanda):

* CBA Insurance Agency Limited:

– 100% shareholding - Offering Bancassurance services. CBA Group owns 100% of the company. * CBA Capital Limited –

– 100% shareholding - An

investment bank Investment is traditionally defined as the "commitment of resources into something expected to gain value over time". If an investment involves money, then it can be defined as a "commitment of money to receive more money later". From a broade ...

licensed by the Capital Markets Authority. CBA Group owns 100% of the company. * CBA Property Holdings Limited –

– 100% shareholding - Property Holding company * AIG Kenya Insurance Company Limited –

– 33.33% shareholding the balance held by the

American International Group American International Group, Inc. (AIG) is an American multinational finance and insurance corporation with operations in more than 80 countries and jurisdictions. As of 2023, AIG employed 25,200 people. The company operates through three core ...

. - Offering general insurance. * CBA Ivory Coast -

Abidjan Abidjan ( , ; N'Ko script, N'ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the largest city and the former capital of Ivory Coast. As of the Demographics of Ivory Coast, 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of the overall population ...

- CBA Group, in collaboration with

MTN Group MTN Group Limited (formerly M-Cell) is a South Africa, South African multinational corporation and mobile telecommunications provider. Its head office is in Johannesburg. MTN is among the List of mobile network operators, largest mobile netwo ...

, 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 Stocks (also capital stock, or sometimes interchangeably, shares) consist of all the Share (finance), shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided. A single share of the stock means fractional ownership of the corporatio ...

, as of December 2017.

References

External links