Kingdom Bank makes first profit in 5yrs after takeover by Co-op

The Kingdom Bank, formerly known as Jamii Bora Bank has returned to profitability. The bank marked its return to profitability with a net profit of Sh. 498 million from a profit before tax of Sh. 512.4 million.

This was the first time that the bank was making a full year profit in a period of five financial years. This profit exceeded the bank’s expectation of a Sh. 300 million profit that was made in June 2021.

“Management noted that there had been significant improvement in performance due to association of the subsidiary with Co-operative Bank. Further, management projects that the bank will turn around by 31 December 2021 with projected profit of Sh. 300 million,” a statement by Co-op Holdings, the majority shareholder of Co-op Bank, said in June 2021.

Kingdom has returned to profitability within one year of being operated by the Co-operative Bank.

In the year under review, the bank’s total operating income improved to Sh. 2.8 billion from Sh. 1.4 billion. This saw the bank meet the Central Bank of Kenya’s capital base requirement. It now has a core capital base of Sh. 1.1 billion.

In full year 2020, the lender slashed it losses to Sh. 169 million from Sh. 1.2 billion loss it had posted in 2019.

Co-op Bank posts best performance ever with Sh. 16bn net profit

The bank was acquired Co-op Bank in 2020 after a 90 percent stake buyout worth Sh. 1 billion.  After the acquisition, Co-op Bank introduced a new management team and rebranded the tier III lender to Kingdom Bank.

Anthony Mburu was appointed as the new CEO of the rebranded bank in the series of changes that also saw a new board of directors appointed.