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

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

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. ...

, the largest economy in the

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. It is licensed by the

Central Bank of Kenya The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) () 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. Kamau Thugge, CBS is the current Governor a ...

, the country's

central bank A central bank, reserve bank, national bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the monetary policy of a country or monetary union. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central bank possesses a monopoly on increasing the mo ...

and national banking regulator. 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 (corporate ba ...

, serving mainly the urban areas of

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 ...

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 ...

. , 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 2013 the bank was accused of insider lending by top shareholders of the bank against CBK rules. In November 2016,

SEM SEM or Sem can refer to: Computing * Search engine marketing, promoting websites by increasing their visibility in search engine results * Security event manager, a security log tool used on data networks Economics and management * Stock Ex ...

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 was expected that those assets and liabilities, together with the 1,300 Chase Bank employees, in about 62 branches, would be absorbed in SBM Bank Kenya. That acquisition began in April 2018, with conclusion planned for August 2018.

Ownership

SBM Bank (Kenya) is a privately held institution. It is a subsidiary of

Mauritian Mauritians (singular Mauritian; ; Creole: ''Morisien'') are nationals or natives of the Republic of Mauritius and their descendants. Mauritius is a melting pot of multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-religious peoples. Mauritian is made up ...

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).

References

{{Nairobi Companies based in Nairobi Banks of Kenya Banks established in 1988 1988 establishments in Kenya

History

Ownership

See also

References