Final regulatory permits have been granted to Access Bank for the purchase of all of the National Bank of Kenya Limited (NBK) from KCB Group Plc.
The news was made by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) on Monday in a statement accessed by BrandSpur banking and finance news desk that was uploaded to its X page. The announcement that Access Bank will buy NBK from KCB Group Plc was made more than a year ago. Access claimed that the purchase would increase its market share in East Africa.
According to the statement, Kenya’s top bank authorised the transaction on April 4 in compliance with Banking Act Section 13(4). It partly reads: “As part of the transaction, CBK, on April 4, 2025, further approved the transfer of certain assets and liabilities of National Bank of Kenya Limited to KCB Bank Kenya Limited pursuant to section 9 of the Banking Act.
“Additionally, the Cabinet Secretary for The National Treasury and Economic Planning approved the transfer on April 10, 2025, pursuant to section 9 of the Banking Act.
“The acquisition and transfer shall take effect upon completion of the transaction in accordance with the terms of the agreement between the parties,” it added.
To facilitate credit availability and encourage economic engagement among Kenyans after independence, the NBK was established in 1968 as a fully owned government organisation, according to CBK.
Continuing, NBK stated: “In September 2019, KCB Group acquired full ownership of NBK, which operates NBK Bancassurance Intermediary Limited as its subsidiary.
“KCB Bank is a wholly owned subsidiary of KCB Group Ple, which is a Kenyan non-operating holding company that owns banking subsidiaries in the East African region: Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia (representative office), South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo,” it added.
However, following its 2019 acquisition of Transnational Bank Ltd., Access Bank’s second acquisition in Kenya is the NBK deal.
