NAIROBI — For the reason that Co-operative Bank and Jamii Bora serve related market segments which include SMEs and groups, Jamii Bora customers will find Co-op Bank a natural – and a better – home for their kind of banking needs.
Co-op bank’s expertise and experience with co-operatives will be a great boon to Jamii Bora’s 440,000 customers.
Takeover of Jamii Bora is consistent with Co-op Bank growth strategy, that seeks to build dominance in the bank’s ‘domain market’ – Kenya – as opposed to expansion outside Kenya’s borders, where experience now clearly shows returns on investment for the various other banks have been far inferior to those attained in the Kenyan market.
“The Co-operative Bank Group is one of the largest banks in the region with an asset base of over Kshs.470 billion, pre-dominantly owned by the over 15 million member Kenya Co-operative movement. The following are the related companies,” Co-op Bank CEO Gideon Muriuki said in a statement.
With over 440,000 customers and 17 branches, Jamii Bora is a value-add to Co-op Bank, with minimal overlaps and large upside potential for exploration of deeper banking relationships by Co-op Bank.
“This acquisition will strengthen both institutions leveraging on the Co-operative Bank’s well-established Universal Banking model as well as our successful business Transformation Agenda/Turnaround riding on the bedrock of the 15 million member co-operative movement and a Kshs.470 Billion balance sheet,” he said.
Co-op Bank has in the past indicated that upon acquisition, Jamii Bora may become the new platform for Co-op Bank to offer specialized business lines such as youth and women banking, asset finance and leasing.
