Stanbic Bank Kenya has named Michael Mutiga as its new Chief Executive Officer, with the appointment taking effect on August 1, 2026, subject to regulatory approval.
The move brings a banker with two decades of experience across corporate finance, telecommunications and digital financial services to the helm of one of Kenya’s leading lenders.
From Safaricom to Stanbic
Mutiga joins Stanbic from Safaricom, where he served as Chief Business Development and Strategy Officer. In that role, he led the telecom’s business development and transformation agenda, overseeing strategic partnerships, mergers and acquisitions, funding strategy and asset optimization. He joined Safaricom in May 2022 from Citibank, where he served as Managing Director and Head of Corporate Finance for Sub Saharan Africa.
Mutiga spent 15 years at Citibank, rising through several senior roles before taking on regional leadership responsibilities. Before Citibank, he built his career at Barclays and later Absa Capital, where he grew from a management associate to Regional Coverage Head for East Africa in the Investment Banking Division, a role he held until 2006.
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A Career Built on Deals and Growth
At Safaricom, Mutiga helped close some of the company’s most significant financial transactions. He led the closure of a multibillion shilling Sustainability Linked Loan in 2023, a facility that strengthened Safaricom’s environmental and governance commitments and stood as the largest deal of its kind ever arranged in East Africa. It also marked the first Kenya Shilling denominated loan of this type in the market.
This track record in structuring complex financial deals and driving transformation now moves with him to Stanbic, where the bank expects him to sharpen its strategy execution as it eyes its next phase of growth.
Academic Credentials and Industry Recognition
Mutiga holds a Master of Laws degree from Temple University and a Bachelor of Laws degree with honours from the University of Nairobi. His legal training complements a career spent largely in corporate and investment banking, giving him a dual grounding in regulatory frameworks and deal making.
His peers have recognized his contributions to the banking sector multiple times over. He has received five Corporate Banker of the Year awards, a distinction that reflects sustained performance rather than a single standout year.
Board Pays Tribute to Outgoing Acting Chief Executive
Stanbic’s board also used the announcement to thank Abraham Ongenge, who has steered the bank as Acting Chief Executive since March 1, 2026. The board credited Ongenge with providing steady leadership during the transition period and ensuring continuity in operations while key business priorities moved forward. Ongenge will remain with the bank in his substantive role as Head of Private and Personal Banking, where the board expects him to continue shaping the bank’s growth agenda.
What This Means for Stanbic
Mutiga takes over a bank navigating a competitive Kenyan financial services landscape, where digital transformation and stakeholder engagement increasingly determine market position. His background bridges telecommunications and banking, sectors that have grown closer together in Kenya through mobile money and digital lending. That crossover experience may prove central to how Stanbic positions itself against rivals also chasing digital financial services growth.
The bank’s board has expressed confidence that Mutiga’s record in strategy execution and transformation will guide Stanbic through its next chapter, though the appointment still awaits sign off from Kenyan banking regulators before it becomes final.
