Kenya's KCB Sets 18-Month Timeline to Enter Ethiopia’s Banking Sector
BaseLine Team
20 Aug, 2025
KCB Group Bank has signaled it could become the first major foreign lender to secure a foothold in Ethiopia’s financial industry within the next 18 months, after opening talks to acquire a 40 percent stake in a local bank.
While KCB has not disclosed which bank it is negotiating with, the Nairobi-based lender intends to finance the acquisition with proceeds from the sale of its National Bank of Kenya unit to Nigeria’s Access Bank, KCB’s Finance Director, Lawrence Kimathi, told Business Daily Africa. He views the deal as key to expanding its regional footprint and reducing reliance on its domestic market.
The Bank has a strong presence outside Kenya in Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, and South Sudan jointly contributed to 32.3 billion KSh of the Group’s profit.
The timeline of interest underscores the accelerating pace of change in Ethiopia’s tightly regulated sector, which was only opened to foreign participation late in 2024. The reform allows international investors to take minority positions in domestic banks or apply for full subsidiary licenses, ending decades of protectionism.
If the deal materializes, it would be one of the first foreign acquisitions under the new rules, adding competitive pressure to an industry long dominated by the state-owned Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE).
