Indian Bank to acquire Giro?
The State Bank of India (SBI), is poised to acquire Giro Bank, a mid-size Kenyan Bank. The deal has already received approval from the Reserve Bank of India and is expected to be completed by October 2005. SBI, which has a balance sheet size of $145 billion, has a market share of over 25 per cent in the Indian banking system, while Giro is about the 23rd largest bank in Kenya, with assets of 4.5 billion shilling ($60 million).

Update on stockbrokers
It appears some of the stockbrokers I wrote about earlier may be inactive, have not renewed their licences or the information provided by the NSE may be outdated. Here now is an updated list of stockbrokers from the Capital Markets Authority as at April 2005.

Stockbrokers: Address, Telephone
Sterling Securities Limited P.O. Box 45080–00100, Nairobi
Ashbhu Securities Limited P.O. Box 41684–00100, Nairobi 020210178
Crossfied Securities Limited P.O. Box 34137–00100,Nairobi 020246036
Discount Securities Limited P.O. Box 42489–00100, Nairobi 020219552
Faida Securities Limited P.O. Box 45236–00100, Nairobi 020243811
Francis Thuo and Partners Ltd P.O. Box 46524–00100, Nairobi 020228498
Ngenye Kariuki and Company Ltd P.O. Box 12185–00400, Nairobi 020220052
Nyaga Stockbrokers Ltd P.O. Box 41869–00100, Nairobi 020332783
Reliable Securities Ltd P.O. Box 50338–00200, Nairobi 020241350
Solid Investment Securities Ltd P.O. Box 43046–00200, Nairobi 020244272

Bank Profits
As at June 30 2005, all commercial banks in Kenya were profitable except;

Oriental (formerly Delphis) 36 million loss
Bank of Africa 10m
Paramount Universal 2m