Equity Bank Kenya has announced that it has completed the purchase the certain assets and liabilities of Spire Bank.
The transaction was completed on 31st January 2023 following receipt of regulatory approvals.. Equity Bank Kenya completed the acquisition of the assets and liabilities after receiving regulatory approvals from the Cabinet Secretary, Treasury, the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), the Sacco Societies Regulatory Authority (SASRA), and the Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK). They also received corporate approvals from the board and shareholders of Equity Bank, Mwalimu National Savings & Credit Co-operative Society Limited (Mwalimu Sacco) and Spire Bank.
The completion of the acquisition follows an announcement that was made in September 2022. Equity Bank had entered into a transaction with Spire Bank for the proposed acquisition of 20,000 deposit customers holding deposits of Ksh. 1.322 billion and 3,700 loan customers that have outstanding loan balances of Ksh. 945 million.
With completion of the transaction, the acquired customers will now transition to become Equity Bank’s customers. This means that these customers will have new Equity Bank accounts.
Speaking during the announcement ceremony, Dr. James Mwangi, Equity Group Managing Director and CEO said, “The decision to acquire Spire Bank’s certain assets and liabilities was not hard and was inspired largely by our history with teachers who have continued to support the Bank over the years. This long-standing partnership extends to other collaborative initiatives including the Wings to Fly scholarship program that has benefited over 60,000 scholars. We have also partnered with our schools to support them transition to clean energy for lighting and cooking. Today, we celebrate the completion of the transaction and are happy to report we have started serving former Spire Bank customers.”
Equity Bank Kenya is a subsidiary of Equity Group Holdings (EGH) which is the largest financial services institution in the region with assets of USD 12 billion. It is also the biggest bank in deposits, market capitalization of USD 1.4 Billion and with a customer base of over 18 million customers. The Group has a footprint of 354 branches across 6 countries, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Sudan, DRC and Rwanda, 61,434 Agents, over 705,000 Pay With Equity (PWE) Merchants, 43,845 POS Merchants, 764 ATMs and an extensive adoption of digital and mobile banking channels.