UBA Kenya Bank, the East African subsidiary of the Nigerian tier-1 lender, is seeking a fresh capital injection from its parent company to meet Kenya’s recapitalisation requirement.
In H1 2025, UBA Kenya cut its losses to KES306,000 ($2,400), down from a massive KES248.5 million ($2 million) a year earlier. But even with that turnaround, the bank’s loss-making streak could still stand in the way of meeting the central bank’s tenfold capital requirement.
In December 2024, the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) passed a bill requiring commercial banks to raise their capital base tenfold from KES1 billion ($7.7 million) to KES10 billion ($77.4 million) by 2029. The recapitalisation will be phased, with banks expected to hit KES3 billion ($23.2 million) by December 2025 as the first milestone.
Banks that miss the 2029 deadline will have to sell, merge, or accept a downgraded licence. The phased milestones give the regulator room to track progress, but CBK estimates that only 14 of Kenya’s 39 banks are on track to comply.
Kenya’s banking industry has become an enticing market. Foreign banks, including Nigeria’s Zenith and South Africa’s FirstRand, plan to make their East African debut.
