Co-operative Bank of Kenya’s chief executive officer, Gideon Muriuki, bought an additional 5.5 million shares in the company, with a current market value of Sh148.2 million, in the seven months to December 2025, lifting his ownership to a new high of 2.3 percent.
Regulatory filings show that he held 135 million shares in December 2025, up from 129.5 million shares in May last year, when his stake stood at 2.21 percent.
The expansion of his stake has cemented his position as the top individual investor in the Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed firm.
Share purchases by executives are seen as a signal of confidence in a firm’s future prospects, given that they are better placed to understand the opportunities, risks and competitive dynamics facing their companies and the industry more broadly.
Businessman Baloobhai Patel had also accumulated Co-op Bank shares over several years and stopped buying after reaching 100 million shares, equivalent to a 1.7 percent stake, ranking him second.
Co-op Bank’s share price has staged one of the sharpest rallies over the past 12 months as investors responded to its earnings performance and the company’s first interim dividend of Sh1 per share, which is seen as a precursor to a higher total dividend payout for the year ended December 2025.
The bank’s share price hit a new 52-week high of Sh27.95 on Friday, closing at an average of Sh26.95. The stock is up 71.65 percent over the past 12 months, according to market data.
Co-op Bank signalled a higher payout for the year ended December 2025 after distributing its first interim dividend of Sh1 per share last month.
The bank had previously maintained a dividend of Sh1.5 per share, paid once at the end of each financial year. Retaining the final dividend at Sh1.5 per share would lift the total dividend to Sh2.5 per share, representing a 66.6 percent increase in cash returns.
Co-op Bank posted a 12.3 percent increase in net profit to Sh21.56 billion in the nine months to September, driven by higher interest income.
Net interest income grew by 22.8 percent to Sh45.27 billion during the period, from Sh36.87 billion a year earlier, on the back of increased lending to customers.
The bank has doubled down on its Kenya expansion strategy, limiting its presence outside the country. It has said there remains significant opportunity in the local market, which it is pursuing through branch expansion in strategic locations and the scaling up of digital banking services.
Co-op Bank serves the Kenyan market through its namesake brand as well as its subsidiary, Kingdom Bank (previously trading as Jamii Bora Bank), which it acquired in 2020 in a rescue deal shepherded by the Central Bank of Kenya.
Its only foreign operation is Co-operative Bank of South Sudan, in which it owns a controlling 51 percent stake, with the remaining 49 percent held by the Government of South Sudan in trust for the co-operative movement in that country.
