The Co-operative Bank of Kenya is set to acquire Jamii Bora Bank, in a move which will see further consolidation of the banking sector. This acquisition follows the merger of NIC and CBA to form NCBA and KCB which took over National Bank last year.
This move by Co-op Bank will see the lender strengthen its asset base to over Ksh. 462 Billion. Prior to this move, there were talks of CBA Bank taking over Jamii Bora but it appears that the deal fell through when the decision was made to merge with NIC. It appears that the owners of the bank are keen on cashing out.
Jamii Bora Bank was established in 2010 after Jamii Bora Kenya Ltd, a microfinance was acquired by City Finance Bank Ltd in 2010. The bank was ranked 38 out of 39 banks in terms of market share as at 31st December 2019 with a market share of 0.12 percent. It has 17 branches across the country.
Co-op Bank had this to say in a notice, “The acquisition will strengthen both institutions leveraging on their respective well established domestic and regional corporate public sector, retail business and the 15 million-member co-operative movement.”