Kenya Commercial Bank, which is Kenya’s largest by assets, has slowed its investment in branches to concentrate on mobile banking services.
The bank’s CEO Joshua Oigara said KCB would also grow its network of agents, allowing more third-party operators to offer basic banking services on its behalf.
The bank reported an 18 per cent rise in full-year pretax profit on Thursday.
“We stopped investing big in branches three years ago,” Oigara told Reuters. “Agents are my new branches and mobile is the other new way we are connecting with customers.”
“The growth in the alternative channels is the big part of our strategy. It is something the industry has committed to,” he added.
Kenya Commercial Bank also operates in Rwanda, Uganda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Burundi, and will enter new regional markets this year. The bank has previously revealed plans to expand to Somalia, Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
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