In a bid to grow its market share in the East Africa region, Access Bank is set to acquire the National Bank of Kenya (NBK) from the KCB Group. The transaction’s successful completion is subject to customary conditions that include getting all regulatory approvals from the Central Bank of Kenya, the Central Bank of Nigeria, the COMESA Competition Commission, and notifications done to other relevant regulators.
The deal is currently pending all necessary regulatory approvals. Meanwhile, National Bank customers will continue receiving seamless services as before across multiple channels including the banks various branch networks and mobile banking platforms.
The transaction represents an important milestone for the bank as it moves us closer to the achievement of our five-year strategic plan through increased scale in the Kenyan market
Access CEO Roosevelt Ogbonna
The NBK acquisition becomes Access Bank’s second acquisition of a Kenyan bank in under five years. In the year 2020, Access Bank acquired Transnational Bank.
According to KCB Group CEO Paul Russo, the purchase represents an excellent opportunity to maximise shareholder value while improving the Group’s competitive position.
In 2019, through a rescue deal brokered by the National Treasury and the Central Bank of Kenya, Kenya’s biggest bank Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) acquired the loss-making National Bank of Kenya.
KCB had initially indicated it was invested in NBK for the long haul. However, narrowing capital adequacy ratios in the last two years may have prompted a rethink, the KCB Group and Access Bank deal was struck at 1.25 times book value, but the exact figure was not released to the public.
