The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has announced the acquisition of certain Assets and Liabilities of Spire Bank Limited (Spire) by Equity Bank Kenya Limited (EBKL) effective January 31, 2023.
This follows approval by CBK on January 23, and the Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury and Planning on January 24, 2023, pursuant to Section 9 of the Banking Act.
Equity Bank Kenya Limited is a fully owned subsidiary of Equity Group Holdings Plc. It was first registered as Equity Building Society in 1984 under the Building Societies Act. It converted to a commercial bank in December 2004 and was listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) in August 2006.
It was ranked second out of 39 banks in terms of market share as of December 31, 2022, with a market share of 12.5 percent with 191 branches across the country.
Read: Equity Bank Agrees To Buy Cash-strapped Spire Bank
Spire Bank formerly known as Equatorial Commercial Bank Limited (ECB) started operations in 1984 as a non-bank financial institution and converted into a commercial bank on December 13, 1995.
Equity Commercial Bank and Southern Credit Banking Corporation Limited merged their respective businesses with effect from June 1, 2010, and retained the name ECB.
In December 2014, Mwalimu National Cooperative Savings and Credit Society Limited (Mwalimu National) acquired a majority stake in ECB.
Effective May 20, 2016, the bank changed its name to Spire Bank Limited. It was ranked 39 out of 39 banks in terms of market share as of December 31, 2022, with a market share of 0.01 percent with 12 branches across the country.
Spire Bank, has been operating in the red for the last couple of years. According to a report by the National Assembly released early last year, the troubled lender has been surviving on emergency loans from the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), commonly known as the reverse repo facility.
Read: Spire Bank: MPs Unearth More Mess For The Teachers’ Bank
Spire’s Bank’s repo balance was Ksh1.3 billion and the lender’s position at 8.91 percent against a statutory requirement of 20 percent as of December 31, 2021.
Mwalimu Sacco, which owns a 75 percent stake, has been supporting the lender by converting deposits into equity or share capital and daily liquidity injection.
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