Kenya is the financial hub of Eastern Africa
The Financial Market in East Africa is gradually being indigenized, we can report. In Kenya and Tanzania, indigenous banks have taken over the domestic market, shunting foreign banks to the periphery. We can also report that Kenya is the financial hub of Eastern Africa, an analysis of the H1 2024 financial reports of the leading banks shows. Their Asset base is also growing, meaning they are entrenched in the market. Generally, the Capital base for all top banks has doubled in the last five years. In 2019, Kenya’s KCB had a capital base of US$8.6 billion. As at the end of H1 2024, the capital base stood at $17.17 billion, while Equity’s asset base grew from US$6.8 billion in 2019 billion to $13.7 billion in the first half of this year. In Tanzania, CRDB has more than doubled its asset base from $2.52 billion in 2019 to the current $5.7 billion, while NMB, the second largest bank in Tanzania, has seen its asset base grow from $2.36 billion in 2019 to the current $5.07 billion