Banking

The banking sector is growing and profitable, although expenses are climbing faster than revenues and non-performing loans have also increased. The overall balance sheet reached KSh3.6trn ($39.6bn) in June 2015, up 21.4% from KSh3trn ($33bn) a year earlier. A number of factors also stand to benefit the sector going forward. Kenya’s banks are gearing up to participate in financing huge infrastructure projects, including power plants, port expansions, 10,000 km of roads, and the Lamu Port-Southern Sudan-Ethiopia Transport Corridor that includes a northern oil pipeline to Uganda. Meanwhile, Kenya’s growing middle class is boosting retail banking and products such as mortgages and personal loans and is likely to continue to drive the adoption of credit cards.

This chapter contains an interview with Patrick Njoroge, Governor, Central Bank of Kenya; and a roundtable with: Gideon Muriuki, Group Managing Director and CEO, Co-operative Bank of Kenya; James Mwangi, Group Managing Director and CEO, Equity Bank; and Joshua Oigara, Group CEO, Kenya Commercial Bank.