- Access Bank Approves to Acquire Kenya’s Transnational Bank
Access Bank Plc, one of Nigeria’s largest bank, on Friday received approval from the Competition Authority of Kenya to acquire Transnational Bank Ltd.
Access Bank will acquire 93.57 percent of Transnational Bank Ltd as the Central Bank of Kenya moves to consolidate the nation’s banking industry pace.
Once the deal is completed, Access Bank will be Nigeria’s third lender entering Kenya’s banking space following Guaranty Trust Bank Ltd and United Bank of Africa Plc bold move into the East African nation’s banking industry.
The Central Bank of Kenya had pushed for bank consolidation to strengthen the banking sector, saying Kenya has more banks per person than Nigeria and South Africa, the two largest economies in Africa.
The move has seen the merger of NIC Group Plc and Commercial Bank of Africa Ltd and the acquisition of the National Bank of Kenya Ltd by KCB Group Ltd.
Similarly, SBM Holdings Limited of Mauritius acquired some assets of Chase Bank Kenya Ltd and the entire capital of Fidelity Commercial Bank Ltd.
In 2018, Transnational Bank reported a pretax loss of 98.5 million Kenyan Shillings or US$951,690.
While according to the bank’s annual report, the lender that mainly focuses on the agricultural sector announced 58 percent jumped in non-performing loans in the same year to 1.85 billion Kenyan Shillings while the total loan issued rose by 0.5 percent to 6.63 billion Kenyan Shillings in the year grew.
It would be recalled that Access Bank merged with Nigeria’s struggling Diamond Bank earlier in the year to further its customers’ reach and coverage on the continent.
The new move to expand operations into the Kenyan market will further solidify its strategy of pan-African.