Bank M Tanzania plc founder and chief executive officer Sanjeev Kumar
(left) speaks as Coulson Harney Advocate partner Alex Mathini looks on
during the unveiling of the M Oriental Bank limited at the Serena Hotel
in Nairobi on June 22, 2016. PHOTO | SALATON NJAU
By BRIAN NGUGI, @brian_ngugi bnjoroge@ke.nationmedia.com
In Summary
- Mr Kumar said majority of the lenders in the Kenya's banking sector operate universal banking models which neglect the high net worth individuals and families.
- Bank M of Tanzania, recently became the first Tanzanian lender to enter the Kenyan market after 73 per cent of its shareholders under the M Holdings Group agreed to buy 51 per cent stake in Oriental Commercial Bank.
Small-sized lender Oriental Commercial Bank Wednesday
formally rebranded to M-Oriental Bank as its new Tanzanian majority
shareholder Bank M Tanzania Plc said they will target family businesses
in Kenya.
M-Holdings Group chief executive officer Sanjeev Kumar said
M-Oriental will seek to replicate a niche business model that has seen
the Group’s Tanzanian unit attain success in banking individuals and
family businesses with high net worth.
“M-Oriental Bank is being repositioned as a whole
sale bank focused on large family businesses in Kenya offering
innovative products and services,” said Mr Kumar in Nairobi during the
unveiling of the bank’s new identity.
Mr Kumar said majority of the lenders in the
Kenya's banking sector operate universal banking models which neglect
the high net worth individuals and families.
“We have created Bank M as a strong whole sale bank
in Tanzania and we aspire to transform M Oriental as the preferred bank
for large family businesses in Kenya,” he said.
First Tanzanian lender
Bank M of Tanzania, recently became the first
Tanzanian lender to enter the Kenyan market after 73 per cent of its
shareholders under the M Holdings Group agreed to buy 51 per cent stake
in Oriental Commercial Bank.
On June 22, the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) cleared
the acquisition of a 51 per cent stake in the shareholding of Oriental
Commercial Bank by the Tanzanian lender setting the stage for its entry
into Kenya.
The regulator also approved an application by M
Holdings Limited to form a Non-Operating Holding Company as required by
law as well as a change of name from Oriental Commercial Bank Limited to
M Oriental Commercial Bank Limited.
M-Oriental chairman Shanti Shah said the lender
would now bolstered by its new shareholders scale up its branches to ten
by close of the year from its current eight.
In Tanzania Bank M currently has 305 families as
clients. It was licensed in February 2007, and is focused on corporate
and investment banking.
Bank M has a deposit base of Sh31.8 billion and a loan book of Sh33.5 billion.
Oriental Commercial Bank now M-Oriental recorded a
profit drop for two years in a row last year after it posted net
earnings of Sh43 million down from Sh72 million in 2014 and Sh140
million a year earlier.
It has a deposit base of Sh6.2 billion and a loan book of Sh5.2 billion
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