Author: Korir Issa

I&M Bank is rolling out a new digital trade finance platform, aiming to cut the paperwork and delays that slow down cross border business across East Africa. The bank has partnered with global trade finance technology provider Surecomp to deploy an integrated platform that brings different stages of a trade transaction into one digital system. The rollout starts in Kenya before extending to Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda and Bank One in Mauritius. Why The Bank Is Investing Now Businesses want faster, simpler ways to manage trade transactions, and I&M Bank says the new system responds directly to that demand. According to…

Airtel Africa is winding up Airtel Kenya Telesonic Limited, its wholesale internet and fibre subsidiary in Kenya. The unit launched in February 2024 and recorded no revenue in either year of operation. How the Shutdown Happened Airtel filed notice at the end of 2025 to surrender its Network Facilities Provider Tier 2 licence to the Communications Authority of Kenya. The regulator asked for the physical licence booklet back by January 30, 2026 Airtel returned it on February 6 The board resolved to close the company that same day The Authority has approved the shutdown The Registrar of Companies is now…

South Africa’s FirstRand is hunting for a Kenyan bank to buy, joining a wave of South African lenders racing to grab a share of one of East Africa’s most profitable banking markets. FirstRand Chief Executive Mary Vilakazi said the group has been scouting opportunities in Kenya for years but has yet to find a deal at the right price. “There must be a willing seller at the right price for us to do any deal,” Vilakazi said. “What we will not do is overpay for any asset.” FirstRand currently runs only a representative office in Kenya, alongside full operations in…

Kenya’s competition regulator has cleared the sale of Diageo’s stake in East African Breweries to Japan’s Asahi Group Holdings, removing the last major regulatory obstacle to one of the largest corporate deals in the country’s history. The Competition Authority of Kenya approved Asahi’s acquisition of Diageo Kenya Limited, the vehicle that holds a 65 percent stake in EABL, along with UDV Kenya Limited. The approval for UDV Kenya carries no conditions. The approval covering Diageo Kenya does, and the terms attached to it will shape how the region’s dominant brewer operates for years to come. What The Authority Approved The…

Africa’s office sector is dividing into winners and losers. Buildings run to a standard are pulling away from ageing stock, according to Knight Frank’s Africa Offices Market Dashboard for H1 2026, which tracks prime office performance across the continent’s leading cities. The report finds that occupiers concentrate demand on buildings that operate without interruption and meet a quality bar. That shift is driving occupancy and rents in the buildings that clear the bar, while older stock falls further behind. In January, Kofisi shut two of its Nairobi centres after losses, while demand kept shifting toward Grade A space in prime…

Forbes has placed four Kenyan banks among the world’s top performing lenders, giving East Africa a rare seat at a table built mostly for Wall Street and the City of London. KCB Group, Equity Group, Co-operative Bank of Kenya, and Stanbic Holdings all appear on Forbes’ inaugural World’s Top Performing Banks 2026 list, a 500-bank ranking spanning 89 countries. Produced with the research firm Statista, the list judges banks on financial performance rather than customer surveys, a shift Forbes says makes the results easier to compare across markets and currencies. No other East African institution made the cut this cycle,…