Co-operative Bank’s newly acquired subsidiary Jamii Bora has rebranded to Kingdom Bank and appointed Anthony Mburu as the new CEO of the new outfit.
Prior to his appointment, Mr. Mburu served as the Director for Credit Management at Co-operative Bank. He will take over immediately from Timothy Kabiru who sat at Jamii Bora’s corner office in an interim capacity since 2019.
The move comes after Cooperative Bank acquired a 90 percent stake in Jamii Bora on August 21 after initially opening talks to acquire majority stake in the lender in March. The two firms valued the deal at Ksh.1 billion, which was endorsed by Jamii Bora shareholders.
”Pursuant to Central Bank of Kenya approvals, the former Jamii Bora Bank has changed its name and will now operate as “Kingdom Bank Limited,’’ Co-operative Bank MD Gideon Muriuki said in a statement.
Kingdom Bank’s brand will consequently incorporate the green colours that are synonymous with the Nairobi Bourse–listed lender.
Apart from naming a new CEO, Kingdom Bank’s mother-company similarly named a new Board of Directors to lead the new establishment. The board will be chaired by Margaret Karangatha. Other members include Co-op Bank Managing Director Gideon Muriuki, Macloud Malonza and Julius Sitienei.
“The transaction has now been completed and Co-op Bank appointed a new board as hereunder to drive the needed transformation agenda,” said the bank in a statement.
In the last few years, Co-operative Bank has been focusing its expansion strategy on local acquisitions as opposed to competitors such as KCB and Equity who have been expanding regionally.
In August for example, Equity Group acquired a 66.5 percent stake in DRC’s Banque Commerciale Du Congo (BCDC) after initially starting discussions in September last year. In 2019, KCB Group on the other hand announced plans to expand into Somalia and the DRC, though the Group did not provide an exact time frame on when it intended to make this move.
Co-op Trust Investment Services Limited and Co-op Consultancy & Insurance Agency Limited, are some of Co-op Bank’s local subsidiaries that it owns fully within the country. The bank similarly owns a 60 percent stake in Kingdom Securities Limited, and a 51 percent in Co-operative Bank of South Sudan.
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