Family Bank announces plan to list shares at Nairobi Security Exchange

Family Bank Kenya has announced plans to list its shares at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) in 2026.

The move by the lender comes as they seek to drive shareholders' value by increasing tradability.

The announcement was made during the lender's quarterly result announcement where the bank registered a net earning of Ksh.1 billion, an increase from Ksh.900 million recorded in the first quarter of 2024.

Family Bank Board Chair Lazarus Muema said: "In our five-year strategic plan we have put in an item for next year and this item is we are going to list our share in the stock exchange and I know guys have been waiting for this."

It is an announcement that may be the much-needed confidence booster for the Nairobi bourse, which has continued to experience a listing drought.

The move, the lender says, is aimed at improving tradability of its share as well as raising capital to boost the institution's liquidity, as well as finance its expansion into other untapped counties.

According to Mr. Muema, investors' sentiment will be a key determinant in the ticket size and the shares that the institution will be offering to other investors.

"The main reason for listing is to gain a degree of liquidity for our existing shareholders, you know there are two ways of listing you can either go in to raise funds or you can go for an introductory listing where you actually float the existing shares to improve liquidity," Mr. Muema.

Acting Family Bank CFO Paul Ngaragari added: “If you look at our capital adequacy ratio, we close at 15.8 percent and that ratio is way above statutory limits but that ratio is also coming down from 16.5 to 15.8 percent. What does that mean for us, and for you investors? This ratio points to an investment opportunity. Our business is growing very fast, it's outpacing our capital adequacy ratio."

In its strategic plan running between 2025 to 2029, the bank intends to leverage on technology for digitisation and data utilisation, increase productivity through efficiency, as well as come up with a compelling customer proposition.

This will see the bank spend over Ksh.1 billion in upgrading its core banking technology in the next 27 months.

"Most of the finance for our upgrade will come from our cash flow generated from our operations but we also have partners who are ready to support us especially on digital transformation so it will be a mix of internal resources as well as support of funds from impact partners," added Ngaragari.

In the period under review, the bank saw a 20 percent jump in deposits to stand at Ksh.132.2 billion, a growth that enabled the banks to increase their lending by 10 percent, growing its loan book to Ksh.96.2 billion.

The return from increased credit disbursement saw the bank earnings jump by 15 percent to Ksh.1.5 billion profit before tax, with net earnings standing at Ksh.1 billion up from Ksh.900 million the previous year.