‘Go Digital or Die’, The New Rule for African Finance
Digital adoption across financial institutions in Africa is no longer a growth input but a survival necessity, according to the African Financial Industry Barometer 2025.
Afreximbank Commits US$ 8bn to its Newest Member South Africa
South Africa has acceded to the Establishment Agreement of the Afreximbank, becoming the multilateral lender's 54th member state.
Security Firm Claims KCB Forced Directors to Sign KSh84mn Loan
Court has ordered KCB Bank to hand over key internal documents, or formally explain their absence, in a lawsuit where a security firm and its directors say the bank is trying to recover money that was never lawfully borrowedKenyan Lenders, Fintechs Turn to Remittance Data to Expand Credit as Diaspora Flows Hit Record
Wapi Pay says its system incorporates explicit customer consent, limited data sharing and encryption, reflecting growing scrutiny from regulators on how financial data is used.Rebranding Plans Tanked Stanbic-NCBA Merger, Insiders Say
Standard Bank subsidiary Stanbic Bank's insistence on rebranding NCBA may have been the final nail on the coffin in the long-running merger negotiations,
Kenya's Largest Banks Split on KESONIA vs CBR in Loan Pricing
Kenya’s largest banks are taking different paths under the Central Bank of Kenya’s revised risk-based credit pricing framework. KCB issued its notice a day earlier, opting to retain the Central Bank Rate as the reference for repricing existing variable-rate loans, a stance later mirrored by Equity Bank and Diamond Trust Bank. Co-operative Bank moved in a different direction, adopting KESONIA as its reference rate. The split exposes uneven adoption of CBK’s push toward market-based loan pricing ahead of the February 2026 transition.
From Collapse to Control: The Evolution of Bank Mergers & Acquisitions in Kenya
Kenya’s banking sector has consolidated repeatedly over the past four decades through a mix of failure, regulation, and strategic takeovers. From the 1989 state-led rescue that created Consolidated Bank to the regional expansion wave of the 2010s and foreign-led acquisitions in the mid-2020s, mergers and acquisitions have been the system’s primary correction mechanism. What began as crisis containment evolved into scale-driven growth and, more recently, a contest over ownership and control, with foreign capital increasingly shaping governance and strategy across the sector.Fitch Ratings Hits Back at Afreximbank With One Last Downgrade
Fitch Ratings has downgraded African Export-Import Bank’s (Afreximbank) long-term issuer credit rating, citing rising restructuring risk and a reassessment of the lender’s policy importance, before subsequently withdrawing all ratingsPrime Bank Wins KSh 87.6mn Withholding Tax Case
The Tax Appeals Tribunal has set aside a KSh 87.6 million tax demand against Prime Bank, ruling that the revenue authority misapplied tax law.Trading at Market Speed with I&M Bank’s FX Direct
This digital evolution ensures that I&M Bank clients are not merely observers of market volatility, but active participants equipped to capture value at the exact moment it arises.Regulator Approves KCB’s US$15mn Acquisition of Riverbank
The Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK) has approved KCB Group’s acquisition of a 75% stake in Riverbank Solutions, a payments technology company.Why Afreximbank Ended its Relationship with Fitch Ratings
Afreximbank terminated its credit rating relationship with Fitch Ratings saying the global ratings agency does not understand its structure.
