A man paints SBM brand name in Mombasa County. PHOTO | WACHIRA MWANGI 
Mauritian lender SBM Holdings has received the Common Market for
Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) Competition Commission greenlight
to take over the troubled Chase Bank.
SBM Holdings in
January received a similar nod from Kenya banking regulator, the Central
Bank of Kenya and the Competition Authority of Kenya.
The
regional trading bloc’s competition watchdog said in a letter dated
October 5 that the takeover would not skew competition in the regional
market. It also noted the takeover would come to the aid of ailing Chase
bank, which could have collapsed in the absence of the merger.
“The committee responsible for initial determination (referred
only as CID) observed that the merging parties had individually low
market shares in the relevant markets,” said the agency.
“The
CID determined that the merger was not likely to substantially lessen
competition in the common market and is compatible with the Comesa
treaty objective of full market integration.”
Chase
Bank was placed under receivership in April 2016 following a run on
deposits after reports of liquidity problems spread online.
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