Author: Muindi

KCB Bank Kenya Limited earned Sh63.7 billion before tax in 2025. That was the highest profit among Kenyan lenders and 20.8 percent of the sector total, according to the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) Bank Supervision Annual Report 2025. The bank also held the biggest balance sheet, at Sh1.50 trillion, or 17.9 percent of sector assets. It grew gross loans by 18.8 percent to Sh1.01 trillion, while the sector grew lending by 6.8 percent. Asset quality remained the weak point, as gross nonperforming loans rose 9.0 percent to Sh192.8 billion. Profit and returns run ahead of the sector KCB Bank…

Bank of Kigali has become the first bank in Rwanda, and the first bank headquartered in East and Central Africa, to join China’s Cross-Border Interbank Payment System as a direct participant. The bank signed the CIPS Direct Participation Agreement in Xiamen, China, on September 8, during the second CIPS Cross-Border Bank-Enterprise Cooperation Event. The agreement gives Bank of Kigali direct access to the settlement network China built to clear payments in its own currency, the renminbi, without routing transactions through intermediary banks in other countries. “This milestone strengthens the financial connection between Rwanda and China, enabling faster and more direct…

Uganda’s industrial property market now delivers the highest yields anywhere Knight Frank tracks across Africa, at 12 to 13 percent, according to the firm’s H1 2026 Africa Industrial Market Dashboard released this week. Kenya and Tanzania trail but still outperform most asset classes on the continent, as a shortage of modern warehouse space keeps rents firm and pushes occupiers to compete for a shrinking pool of Grade A buildings. The report, which tracks ten African cities, found that prime industrial rents across the region held largely steady through the first half of the year even as older, poorly located warehouses…

Standard Chartered Bank Kenya is pressing ahead with plans to sell five properties pledged as security for loans advanced to collapsed retailer Nakumatt Holdings. The lender wants to recover more than KSh967 million and US$7.3 million in unpaid facilities, a combined exposure above KSh1.9 billion at current exchange rates. The bank has issued statutory notices to Creative Enterprises Limited and Nakumatt Investments Limited, the two companies that charged the properties as security for Nakumatt Holdings’ borrowing. Together, the notices mark a new stage in a recovery effort that has dragged on since the retailer’s collapse in 2017. What Nakumatt Owes…

Mobile money subscriptions in Kenya grew 13.2 per cent over the 2025/26 financial year to reach 54.0 million by June 30, 2026, a penetration rate of 101.3 per cent, according to the Communications Authority of Kenya’s fourth quarter sector statistics report. The growth came even as the agent network that supports it shrank. Registered mobile money agents fell 5.6 per cent in the final quarter, closing the year at 568,463, a decline that lines up with a broader shift toward app based and USSD transactions that need fewer physical outlets to complete a payment. Quarter end Mobile money subscriptions Penetration…

Nation Media Group (NMG) announced a region-wide editorial leadership realignment on September 16, 2026, moving Group Editor-in-Chief Dr. Joe Ageyo to Uganda and appointing Harry Misiko as Acting Editor-in-Chief in Kenya. Group Managing Director and CEO Geoffrey Odundo told staff the changes were effective immediately, citing a review of the group’s editorial structure and business requirements across the region. The appointments In Uganda, Ageyo becomes Editor-in-Chief, NMG Uganda. Washington Gikunju, previously Managing Editor, Publishing in Kenya, becomes Acting Managing Editor, NMG Uganda. In Tanzania, James Smart, previously Managing Editor, Broadcast and New Media in Kenya, becomes Acting Managing Editor, Broadcast…