Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB), a leading Kenya-based financial institution in terms of assets, has launched a portal set to link Kenyans in the Diaspora with the country’s banking and investments.
The bank has equipped the portal, Kcbbankgroup.com/diaspora, to help Kenyans in other countries buy shares, select property investment and open bank accounts.
The services, which will be offered online and through mobile interface, has sections that deal with mortgages and loans as well as investments, which include treasury bills and bonds and stock exchange trading.
It also provides Internet and mobile banking sections to the users.
Kenyans in the Diaspora last year sent home an estimated KSh70 billion shillings. Only this past March, Central Bank of Kenya (CCK) estimated the remittance at US$106.4 million (KSh9 billion).
The money mostly goes to support family members, but a shift is changing to investments.
“Over the years, we have witnessed the growth of this Diaspora market that now stands at over 12 million people in the region alone and established a great need for a reliable product to suit the dynamic needs of this market segment,” the KCB Group CEO Martin Oduor-Otieno said during the launch.
This bold move is likely to reflect well on KCB’s accounting sheets, analysts say.
In November 2011, the World Bank opened a portal to ease the Diaspora remittance.
The World Bank estimates that about 120 million people in Africa receive a total of $40 billion a year from about 30 million relatives and friends who left their home country.
KCB has in the last one decaded expanded throughout the East African region. It currently operates in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Burundi and South Sudan. The expansion, analysts say, informed the bank that Kenyans abroad need to have access to banking and investment avenues hence the new portal.
It last year reported a net interest income rise by 19 percent from KSh19.6 billion to KSh23.2 billion. The bank largely attributed the rise to higher asset growth although offset by high interest costs on its wholesale deposits. Total operating income rose from KSh29.6 billion to KSh36.9 billion credited to growth in customer and product base.
