Category Archives: Family Finance

Kenya Bank Rankings 2008 Part II

Follow up to part I and tracks change from December 2007 to 2008 in assets and profits

Tier 1 (Assets over 25 billion shillings)
1 KCB (2) 174,712-assests (Kshs. 175 billion, $2.18 billion) 5,394 million ($67million)-profits 109,845-deposits 79,343-Loans (assets up 55%, profits up40 %, overtake Barclays to be No. 1)
2 Barclays (1) 168,786-a 8,016-p 126,408-d 108,086-L (assets up 7%, profits up 13 %)
3 Standard Chartered (3) 99,140-a 4,709-p 76,898-d 43,299-L 8% (assets up 8%, profits down 4 %)
4 Cooperative (4) 83,918-a 3,337-p 65,934-d 53,293-L (assets up 28%, profits up 46 %)
5 (–) CFC Stanbic 83,166-a 1,313-p 61,529-d 44,205-L (new bank created by merger combined assets up 34%)
6 Equity (6) 77,135-a 4,757-p 48,977-d 40,858-L (assets up 45%, profits up 101%)
7 Commercial Bank of Africa (8) 50110-a 1694-p 41715-d 26309-L (assets up 27%, profits up 21%)
8 Citibank Kenya (6) 47534-a 3353-p 31192-d 18154-L (assets unchanged, profits up 89%)
9 NIC (10) 42,704-a 1,474-p 35,238-d 29,955-L (assets up 36%, profits up 41%)
10National Bank of Kenya (7) 42,696-a 1,797-p 34,278-d 8,950-L L (assets up 3%, profits up 11%)
11 Diamond Trust (11) 41,592-a 1,336-p 32,689-d 25,460-L (assets up 37%, profits up 44%)
12 Investment & Mortgages (12) 36,656-a 1,620-p 28,355-d 25,887-L (assets up 25%, profits up 25%)

Tier 2 (Assets of 6 – 24.9 billion)
13Prime (15) 19,945 million-assets (~$249 million or Kshs 19.95 billion) 460 million-profits (~$5.75 million) 15,662 million-deposits 9,426 million-Loans (assets up 44%, profits up 45%)
14Housing Finance (17) 14,330-a 196-p 10,089-d 10,419-L (assets up 38%, profits up 50%)
15 Imperial (16) 13,432-a 673-p 10,414-d 8,276-L (assets up 15%, profit up 19%)
16 Bank of Africa (23) 12304-a 93-p 8708-d 6856-L (assets up 61%, profit down 41%)
17 Bank of India (18) 12049-a 609-p 10211-d 4448-L (assets up 16%, profit up28 %)
18 Ecobank (19) 10499-a 67-p 8341-d 5126-l (assets up 11%, profit down 43%)
19 Family Bank (20) 10,410-a 531-p 7,404-d 5,890-L (assets up 21%, profit up 99%)
20 Baroda (14) 10361 633 15165 8938 (assets down 30% %, profit up 27%)
21 Chase (27) 10,300-a 247-p 7147-d 5139-L (assets up 80%, profit up 37%)
22 Fina (21) 9,865-a 82-p 8,113-d 6,190-L (assets up 22%, profit down 29 %)
23 K-Rep (24) 8,184-a -472(p) 4,502-d 5,935-L (assets up16 %, slipped to loss maker)
24 ABC (26) 6584-a 224-p 5365-d 3550-L (assets up 7%, profit up 21%)
25 Habib AG Zurich (25) 6,557-a 242-p 5,373-d 2,182-L (assets up 6%, profit up 19%)
26 Development Bank of Kenya (32) 6,520-a 171-p 2231-d 3439-L (assets up 39%, profit up 9%)

Tier 3 (assets below 6 billion shillings)
27 Giro (28) 5,938 million-assets (~$74 million, Kshs 5.93 billion) 126 million-profits (~$1.6million) 5,127 million deposits 3,411 million-Loans (assets up 6%, improved profit up 207%)
28 Guardian (29) 5,558-a 44-p 4,586-d 3,553-L (assets up 3%, improved profit up 84%)
29 Southern Credit (30) 5,171-a 6-p 4,106-d 2,655-L (assets down 6%, profit down 85%)
30 (–) Gulf African 5,000-a -382(p)3,249-d 1,932-L (new Shariah bank)
31 Consolidated (34) 4,657-a 85-p 3,279-d 2,751-L (asset up 13%, improved profits up 226%)
32 Habib Bank (35) 4,491-a 146-p 3024-d 988-L (assets up 17%, profit up 37%)
33 Victoria (33) 4,460-a 170-p 3,582-d 2,778-L (assets up %, profit up %)
34 Equatorial (31) 4410-a -8(p) 3668-d 2307-l (assets down 9%, slipped to loss maker)
35 Fidelity (38) 4,329-a 73-p 3,778-d 2,787-L (assets up 39%, profit up 62%)
36 Credit (36) 3,637-a 79-p 2774-d 1810-L (assets up 8%, profit down 40%)
37 Transnational (37) 3,414-a 121-p 1,891-d 1,441-L (assets up 6%, profit up 43%)
38 Middle East (39) 3,297-a 30-p 2,021-d 1,651-L (assets up 6%, profit down 68%)
39 (–) First Community 3,180-a -307(p) 2091-d 868-l (new Shariah bank)
40 Paramount Universal (40) 2,646-a 51-p 2,109-d 1,268-l (assets up 12%, profit up 19%)
41 Oriental (41) 2,289-a 68-p 1,314-d 958-L (assets up 35%)
42 Dubai (42) 1,639-a 7-p 1,032-d 957-L (assets up 6%, profit down 50%)
43 (43) City Finance 538 -a -3(p) 164 -d 193-L (assets down 28%, 90% financial improvement to report loss of 3m)

Bank Tales II

Maina T kind of started this thread with a review of the P/E correction of Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) shares.

NSE: ½ full or ½ empty? – to take it further, how are NSE shares today compared to last October? If you considered them fairly priced then, you are frowning today, but if you considered them over-valued, are you smiling today?
estimates
– Shares that have appreciated since October 2007: 4% – BAT Scangroup, 3% – Access 3%, 1% – Unga
– Shares that have depreciated since October 2007: (83%) – Mumias (74%) NIC (59%) Nation Media Group, CFC (55%) – Housing Finance, (53%) – Sasini (51%) – Kenya Airways (47%) – Sameer (45%) – Kengen, Centum (44%) – Eveready (43%) – Williamson (42%) – Express, Jubilee (41%) – KPLC, Kenol
– Banking sector: Best (4%) – NBK, worst (-74%) – NIC, sector average is -32%

Interesting that despite the world financial meltdown of late 2008, the Kenyan financial sector is faring no worse than other sectors (agricultural, industrial) which are all down approximately 1/3,and remains the sector most likely to produce super-profits again this year. Best performing sector is commercial services (excluding Safaricom only listed in June 2008) which is down 20% from a year ago

Cheap M&A The depressed NSE prices bring out good and bad banking opportunities.
– Good for anyone speculating on buying into a Kenyan bank. The Helios stake in Equity is priced as almost what it was when the deal was signed, while the CFC/Stanbic merger is worth ½ as much as it was a year ago.
– Bad for the Government who are hoping to raise funds from further sale of NBK and Development Bank of Kenya share. It also raises a question of how Co-op Bank IPO shares will be received i.e. if you enter a train going down hill and you want to go up hill, where will you end up?

Family Bank a recent stockskenya discussion could indicate that a listing of shares could happen soon.

EADB: sad tales on the East African Development Bank.

Kutwa Tuesday: Capital Chickens

Capital rights issues come home to roost

Last October this post discussed banks’ needing to raise share capital to support their rapid growth over the last five years. Since that time, Diamond Trust, NIC, Housing Finance, Equity and now KCB have all gone ahead and put plans in place to increase their share capital to catch up with their asset base.

KCB hopes to raise Kshs. 5 billion and hopefully this could spur some quality mid-tier banks, with foreign shareholding to step forward to the NSE listing place as well i.e K-Rep, Commercial Bank of Africa, Investment & Mortgages, Fina, Citibank and even Cooperative banks.

Corporate news

KQ expands (From African Flyer blog) – Kenya Airways will from mid-year increase flights on routes in Africa (Ethiopia, Nigeria, Ghana), Mid-East (Dubai) and Far East (China, Hong Kong, Thailand).

Another stockbroker falls: This time it’s another small firm – Nyaga stockbrokers. This is not unexpected, as problems were well known for over a year and had even been discussed in a stockskenya forum. The authorities (CMA) can’t pretend to act surprised as they had in the past considered taking action against the firm whose managers repeatedly sold investors shares without their knowledge – and when caught they would blame errors, and take their time correcting the situation, only to repeat the same up to last week.

  • Though the NSE launched a 100 million rescue package, a Business Daily story mentions that as much as 820 million could be owed to clients.
  • Other blogger takes: The KCIG has some suggestions for the capital markets authority while Coldtusker is dismayed by the pattern of bailouts of Nyaga Stockbrokers and Invesco Insurance after financial shenanigans.

OTC Bank shares: Are shares of Family Bank available to buy over the counter?

New branches: coming soon Gulf Africa bank at Hughes Building – Kenyatta Avenue, and a new Family Bank branch opp. Yaya Center, Kilimani

Big radio opportunity: Kenya’s highest-rated radio show, Kiss FM‘s Big Breakfast Show (with Carol Mutoko) is looking for a new voice to join her on the show. Send a CV with a recording to md@kissfm.co.ke

Bank Review ’07: Part III

Middle of the pack

20. (20) Fina Bank: Estimated assets of 7.6 billion ($108 million) and profits of 90 million shillings ($1.3 million), with growth of about 20% from a year ago. Opened upcountry branches in Kenya (Nakuru, Mombasa, and Eldoret) and will start branches in Uganda next year, bridging the Fina to their existing Rwanda operations.

19. (22) Family Bank: Estimated assets of 9 billion and profits of 220 million in 2007. Known as Equity Blue, it has enjoyed similarly rapid growth (though slightly less this year) since converting from a building society to a bank. It has followed Equity’s footsteps, applying for the same exemptions granted to Equity – such early as admission to the clearing house and permission to issue chequebooks. It has also opened branches at a fast rate and its paperless banking model and women-entrepreneur loan models are a hit with rural Kenyans. But, in the year in which they converted to a Bank, they also lost their long serving CEO over board dispute and got sued by a Central Bank official who their Chairman had accused of being corrupt.

18. (18) EABS: Estimated assets of 9 billion and profits of 15 million. Teething pains continue at the former building society which converted to a bank three years ago, and had growth of about 5% in 2007.

17. (17) Housing Finance : Estimated assets of 10.5 billion and profit of 120 million, with loans 15% up from a year ago but assets only 2%. The bank tried to merge with Development Bank of Kenya, and later raise cash in a rights issue, but both plans were scuttled by regulators; later the board signed to sell a 25% stake to Equity Bank. HFCK and S&L (owned by KCB) are still major players in the mortgages sector which is becoming a crowded field with newer entrants Stanbic and Standard Chartered. HF also lost a class action lawsuit filed by customers over illegal bank charges.

16. (19) Bank of India: Estimated assets of 11 billion and profit of 500 million for quiet bank that grew at about 25%. Does a lot of India related business and Kenya government securities.

15. (16) Imperial Bank: Estimated assets of 11.5 billion and profits of 600 million. In 2007, the bank grew about 40% as it launched shariah banking, asset finance, children’s accounts and opened new branches at the coast.

14. (14) Bank of Baroda: Estimated assets of 14.9 billion and profit of 600 million for quiet bank that grew at about 25% and does a lot of Kenya government securities investing. It has been in Kenya for 52 years

13. (15) Prime Bank : Estimated assets of 15 billion and profits of 350 million. The fast growing bank will consolidate with affiliate Prime capital company by year end leading to a much larger bank in 2008.

12. (11) Investment & Mortgages: Estimated assets of 30 billion and profits of 1.3 billion. Fast growing bank also diversified into shariah banking, custodial services and also acquired two new euro bank shareholders.

11. (12) Diamond Trust : Estimated assets of 31 billion and profits of 950 million. In 2007 the bank grew about 45% as it opened several new branches, had a second rights issue in less than a year and also acquired a majority stake in Diamond Trust Tanzania.

10. (8) NIC: Estimated assets of 34 billion and profit of 1.1 billion. The bank grew at about 30% in 2007. It had a rights issue, rewarded shareholders with a bonus, went into custodial and investment banking (acquiring a stockbrokerage firm). But the market leader in asset finance also faced increased competition from other banks in this field and was dropped from NSE share index in favour of ICDCI.

9. (5) Citibank Kenya: Estimated assets of 38 billion and profit of 1.9 billion shillings. Otherwise a flat year for the bank whose parent faced her own troubles in the US banking meltdown. Growth was about 5% as the bank got into the local IPO advisory races.

8. (6) Commercial Bank of Africa: Estimated assets of 40 billion and profit of 1.4 billion. Growth of 9% from a year ago got into unit trusts, home loans, insurance, and funding of women projects. Similar to CFC and would be prime candidate for a merger.

7. (7) National Bank of Kenya: Estimated assets of 45 billion ($645 million) and profit of 1.4 billion shillings ($20 million) for 2007. NBK finally had its most of its non- performing portfolio debt albatross sorted out with a government bailout in the form of bonds maturing over the next 10 years. Now that its cleaned up, it could once again be a target of Stanbic again who two years ago offered to buy out NSSF’s 48% after their CFC merger is done in 2008 (Equity Bank is a also long shot). During the year, NBK partnered with Standard investment bank offer stockbroking services through NBK branches and also tried to have businessman Ketan Somaia jailed over an unpaid debt to the bank

Jobs

– Chase Bank; Head of ICT, senior manager operations, head of trade finance. apply by snail mail to the Head of HR 28987-00200 by 29/2
– Cabin crew at Emirates airlines
– Fina Bank Uganda: The bank is starting operation in Uganda in January 2008, and those interested in working there should send detailed CVs to hr@finabank.com.
– tough job – Head of marketing & corporate communications at Kenya Airways apply online by 15/1

Wikileaks: Charterhouse

Charterhouse revealed
Fresh off the Kroll reports, Wikileaks moves on to another Kenyan financial saga – uncovering secrets of Charterhouse Bank.

The bank was placed under statutory management in 2006 after a long battle with the central bank governor, finance minister, amid allegations of money laundering and tax evasion that almost brought down Nakumatt supermarket who banked with them and hosted several Charterhouse branches.

Euro needs more marketing
The US Dollar keeps dipping lower, not just against the shilling, but is all over recording lows against the Euro and now achieving parity with the Canadian dollar (no more cheap buys from Canada).

I feel bad when I travel to another country with my Dollars and they don’t go as far as they used to, or as if I had carried Euros instead.

While the dollar is laid low, there is no other currency stepping up to grab its space. The pound is a colonial relic and the yen is too far & exotic.

The Euro needs to step up and lobby to become the currency of choice for hotels, shops, forex bureaus, Kenya airways, Somali & Sudanese businessmen, companies and most important the Kenya government

Family Bank gets cheques
After applying for a waiver (and getting it), Family Bank finally is now fully-fledged with cheque books for customers and access to the Central Bank clearinghouse. This meshes well with their growth plans – as a recent report found they had the highest new account growth among all banks last year.

IPO savings loan
From Transnational Bank, comes the Fanikisha enabling people to save money and buy IPO shares on the NSE – which TNBL will finance up to 2 ½ times what you have saved. The account is aimed at Kenyans abroad – but my question is with the fractional IPO applications yielded (1/4 or 1/3 of shares paid for) what gain is there in taking a loan for an IPO?

Story con or cover up?
KTN had a story this week about the Tesco supermarkets (local chain – not UK-related) who just ended their Uchumi franchise partnership. KTN said they had seen documents showing that Tesco was insolvent with negative share capital, numerous bounced cheques, rent arrears of many months at its stores, and suppliers reclaiming their merchandise. The story ended there with no follow up in the Standard (KTN sister paper) or any other newspaper. So was it hushed up, or was it a case of more mudslinging in the supermarket wars?