Somalia’s Premier Bank to acquire 62.5% stake in First Community Bank
The logo of Somalia-based Premier Bank
The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has approved the acquisition of a 62.5 percent stake in First Community Bank (FCB) by Somalia’s Premier Bank Limited (PBL).
The CBK announced the deal in a statement on Friday, the CBK said the deal will be effective March 27, 2023.
The inking of the deal comes after “CBK’s approval on March 13, 2023, under Section 13(4) of the Banking Act and approval by the Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury and Planning on March 16, 2023, pursuant to Section 9(1) of the Banking Act,” the statement read.
As of June last year, FCB ranked 27th among Kenya’s 39 banks with Sh22.2 billion in deposits.
Established in Somalia in 2013, the privately owned PBL is a Sharia-compliant commercial bank and was licensed by the Central Bank of Somalia in 2014.
With 20 branches, 80 ATMs, and over 600 point-of-sales merchants, PBL ranks among the large banks in Somalia accounting for 16 percent of the banking sector assets.
With this deal, PBL becomes the first Somali bank to establish a majority-owned banking subsidiary in Kenya.
