Access Bank Gets Approval to Take Over National Bank of Kenya

The lenders signed an agreement for the purchase in March 2024 and will see KCB sell 100 per cent of NBK at 1.25 its book value, boosting the foothold of Nigeria’s biggest bank in one of East Africa’s most crucial economies.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and other authorities will still need to grant regulatory approval.

The CBK said Treasury Cabinet Secretary, Mr John Mbadi, had approved the deal, bringing Access Bank closer to taking over NBK, which could expand its footprint in East Africa’s largest economy, given the bank’s nationwide branch network.

“Pursuant to section 13 (4) of the Banking Act, the Central Bank of Kenya on 4th April, 2025, approved the acquisition of 100 percent of the issued share capital of National Bank of Kenya Limited by Access Bank PLC,” CBK governor Kamau Thugge said in a gazette notice.

“The Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury and Economic Planning on 10th April, 2025, approved the acquisition of 100 percent of the issued share capital of National Bank of Kenya Limited by Access Bank PLC,” it said in a statement on Monday.

This development marks the second acquisition in Kenya for the Nigerian bank after it bought Transnational Bank Limited in 2019.

Speaking on the deal last year, the CEO of Access Bank, Mr Roosevelt Ogbonna, in a statement said, “The transaction represents an important milestone for the bank as it moves us closer to the achievement of our five-year strategic plan through increased scale in the Kenyan market.”

According to KCB Group CEO, Mr Paul Russo, the sale of the lender to Access Bank will help turn around the fortunes of the struggling subsidiary. KCB, which is Kenya’s biggest bank, bought the National Bank of Kenya in 2019.

“The board evaluated three options and made the decision that to protect the value and the efforts we’ve put in NBK, the right thing to do [] is to accept a binding offer from Access Group,” Russo said while releasing KCB Group’s 2023 financial results.

Access Bank plans to double the share of assets outside its home market by 2027 and has seen deal build on the bank’s growing operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, as well as its acquisitions or plans to acquire stakes in Uganda’s Finance Trust Bank Limited in January, a controlling share in African Banking Corporation of Tanzania, and Standard Chartered Bank Plc’s consumer, private and business-banking operations in that country.

Access Bank has been on a Mergers and Acquisition (M&A) streak across the continent, acquiring Grobank in South Africa, BancABC in Botswana and Mozambique, Diamond Bank in Nigeria, and Finibanco Angola in line with the visions of its late founder, Mr Herbert Wigwe.