Family Bank Limited has been appointed as a Central Depository Agent (CDA) and as a settlement bank by the Central Depository and Settlement Corporation (CDSC), allowing the lender to widen its portfolio of financial services offered to its customers.
The CDSC said on Tuesday that the move is in line with its strategy to increase both physical and digital access points for its services, to enhance access to the market and service delivery.
As a CDA, the lender will now be able to enlist new clients and maintain Central Depository and Settlement (CDS) accounts by leveraging on its existing client base to grow its network.
“The appointment of Family Bank Limited as a Central Depository Agent will certainly enrich the market by allowing the CDSC to leverage on Family Bank’s extensive branch network and digital channels to avail CDSC products and services to investors,” said Nkoregamba Mwebesa, the CDSC’s chief executive.
As a Settlement bank, Family Bank will provide fund settlement services to their CDA business unit as well as other Central Depository Agents with respect to trades done at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE).
“Their appointment as a settlement bank is also a very significant development for our market, as it further enhances the robustness of our fund settlement ecosystem,” said Mr Mwebesa.
The CDSC has been undertaking a campaign to grow its CDA network and digital channels, which has also seen the recent appointment of HF and Credit Bank as CDAs, and the roll-out of the CDSC API and Chatbot services earlier this year.
This appointment of Family bank as a CDA brings the number to 43 in a list that includes the National Treasury, the Unclaimed Financial Assets Authority (UFAA) as well as stockbrokers and local banks.
The lender’s appointment as a settlement bank brings the total number to 11 in a list that includes other major local banks.
Family Bank, which has been expanding its branch network while targeting SME lending to grow its loan book, will be looking to leverage on the additional business lines from the capital markets to grow its bottom line.
The lender’s net profit for the six months ended June 2022 rose by 37.4 percent to Sh1.61 billion.
Small and medium-sized enterprises form over 80 percent of Family Bank’s customer base and the lender said last year it will continue to prioritise this client group in its lending.
