Kenyan banks had a cumulative 94,643,325 deposit accounts last year from 64,022,715 in 2022 with accounts holding more than half a million shillings declining by 39.89% while accounts with below KShs. 500 grew by 50.4%.
The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) Annual Bank Supervision Report 2023, the number of accounts holding above Ksh500,000 declined from 1,847,077 in 2022 to 1,110,232 in 2023.On the other side, the accounts with less than Ksh500,000 grew from 62,175,638 in 2022 to 93,533,093.Majority of customers having more than Ksh500, 000 in their deposit accounts bank with NCBA (416,481) followed by Equity Bank (124,098).KCB, Co-operative bank and Absa Kenya had 113,368, 86,033 and 59,326 customers having more than Ksh500,000 in their accounts last year.During the period under review, at least 10 banks saw their deposit accounts reduce, they include Bank of India, Bank of Africa, HFC Limited, Sidian Bank, SBM Bank, Premier Bank, Africa Banking Corporation, UBA Kenya and Spire Bank.
NBK, a subsidiary of KCB Group led the park with a negative 36.7 per cent reduction of its deposit accounts from 836,648 in 2022 to 529,601 in 2023.
KCB Group acquired NBK five years ago, and has since struggled to fix the many issues it inherited, including significant capital constraints and non-performing loans. In March, the lender said it is in the process of selling National Bank at 1.25* its book value to Nigerian lender Access Bank. Access Bank already has a foothold in Kenya after it acquired Transnational Bank in 2019.
Access Bank has been on a M&As streak across the continent, acquiring Grobank in South Africa, BancABC in Botswana and Mozambique, Diamond Bank in Nigeria, and Finibanco Angola.
KCB to Sell National Bank of Kenya to Access Bank – Kenyan Wall Street – African Business and Global Finance
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