The additional injection expected in April, brings to over Sh2 billion the total amount of shareholder investment in the Tier 3 bank so far/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 19 – Equatorial Commercial Bank (ECB) will receive an additional Sh1 billion capital infusion from its shareholders, which is expected to boost the bank’s lending capacity.
ECB will receive Sh750 million capital infusion from anchor shareholder, Mwalimu National Sacco and Sh250 million from Sameer Investment group.
The additional injection expected in April, brings to over Sh2 billion the total amount of shareholder investment in the Tier 3 bank so far.
Commenting on the capital injection, ECB Managing Director, Tim Gitonga said the bank is now planning to leverage on its added strength to launch new products and enter into new segments of the markets in pursuit of profitable growth.
“This is a major development for us at ECB. This infusion of capital by our shareholders will not only further improve our capital base and give us a sound and solid platform on which to grow our loan book and expand our service portfolio beyond the current offering,” said Gitonga.
ECB has already set its sights on achieving Tier 2 status within the next four years by evolving a robust product portfolio, especially for the retail and SME (small and medium enterprise) segments.
Mwalimu National Sacco CEO, Robert Shibutse, said the decision to invest in ECB was informed by its growing membership and their persistent push for growth that is only realizable through diversified investments.
“Mwalimu National Sacco has been Keen to ride on its basic banking infrastructure that already consists of 13 front office operations and strong membership in all parts of the country. Our desire to transition from FOSA to a fulltime commercial Bank will have minimum financial implications and we will be able to reap from economies of scale as a result of leveraging on ECB’ established banking infrastructure,” said Shibutse.
Mwalimu National Sacco currently has an asset base of Sh33 billion and has reserves in excess of Sh4.3 billion which puts it in a favorable position to tier one banks.
