State Bank of Mauritius (SBM) entered the Kenyan market through a 100 per cent acquisition of Fidelity Commercial Bank in May 2017 sending signals of interest in the local banking sector.
On January 4, 2018 they received a nod from Central Bank of Kenya to take over troubled Chase Bank after submitting a binding offer in December 2016, a deal that will see about 35,235 Chase Bank deposit accounts opened during the period it has been under receivership transferred to SBM Bank accounts.
The approval also meant they will take over 75 per cent of the value of deposits which were in the bank before it was put under receivership. Undisclosed number of Chase Bank staff and branches will also be moved to the bank.
“Fusion has not been able to source reliable third party analysis of their financials, nor have they published their accounts in Kenya or elsewhere, for 2017. We understand from confidential sources that this relates to their purchase of Fidelity Bank in 2017. CBK has, apparently, not yet approved their Kenyan auditors, and prior to the takeover, the previous management at Fidelity had not published accounts,” Fusion investment and asset management executive director Michael Kimondo said in a statement.
Founded in 1973 by the government of Mauritius, SBM Holdings is engaged in banking, non-banking financial services and non-financial investments.
Mauritius government has a controlling stake of 70.4 per cent in the bank directly and through the Treasury, Insurance Company of Mauritius, National Savings Fund, Development Bank of Mauritius and State Investment Corporation of Mauritius. It is followed by the National Pension Fund at 22.73 per cent.
Its leadership comprises of eight non-executive directors of which six are independent non-executive directors. As at September 30,2017, it had a market share of 30.7 per cent in personal banking and 20.7 per cent in business banking, with 43 branches and a market share of more than 20 per cent, making it the second biggest bank in Mauritius. The biggest is Mauritius Commercial Bank, while Standard Chartered Bank comes in third place.
According to Fusion capital analysis, the bank cost to income ratio was 44.83 per cent compared to an average of 53.62 per cent for its Kenyan peers during the review period.
For the same period, the Bank posted a Return on Equity of 21.84 per cent with the Kenyan average being 12.84 per cent.
The analysis goes ahead to record that with an asset base of Sh545.32 billion as at September 30, 2017,the bank would rank second only to KCB, with total assets of Sh658.92 billion in East Africa ranking as a tier I bank.
As at December 31,2017, the bank had a market capitalization of $581 Million ( Sh59.47 billion). In Kenya, SBM has 10 branches, six in Nairobi and four in Mombasa. It focuses to have its activities on products and services for corporates and Small and Medium Enterprises.