Commercial Bank of Africa Limited has acquired 100% of Crane Bank Rwanda Limited from dfcu Bank Limited, a registered financial institution in Uganda. Commercial Bank signed a definitive Sale & Purchase Agreement (SPA) for full acquisition.
This signals CBA’s intentions to expand business operations in Rwanda and the larger East African region. The strategy is in alignment with most economies looking to provide the full spectrum of financial services to the market.
This transaction is subject to regulatory approval by National Bank of Rwanda (BNR), Bank of Uganda (BoU) and Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) as well as other relevant capital markets regulatory authorities.
Staff operations
The financial base for CBA Group has strengthened considerably over the last five years to a total asset base of KES 227 billion (USD 2.2 billion), loans of KES 117 billion (USD 1.1 billion), deposits of KES 189 billion (USD 1.8 billion) and shareholders’ funds of KES 26 billion (USD 300 million) at 31st December 2016.
With CBA’s unprecedented and market-leading mobile savings and loans (“MSL”) service, the bank serves over 27 million customers within East Africa in partnership with mobile money operators.
According to CBA’s board of directors, the bank will continue to evaluate and invest in opportunities that are aligned to the bank’s vision to be a significant financial services business partner in Africa.
The capitalization challenges at Crane Bank Uganda and consequent takeover of the management by Uganda’s central bank did not have direct effect on its Rwandan subsidiary, according to officials at the National Bank of Rwanda.
Staff members have been assured of normal operations after which but changes will be made as the new management gets on board. It is expected that a lot will change considering CBA is largely dependent on technology for growth and expansion.
Before the acquisition, a number of local banks had expressed interest in Crane Bank Rwanda, which began operations in Rwanda in 2014. The bank has two branches only.