KCB appoints new director as it eyes larger corporate banking pie

Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) has hired a new director for corporate banking from rival Chase Bank to replace James Agin who moved to Barclays in the same capacity.

The country’s biggest bank by asset base tapped Ken Ouko who until his new appointment was the director of business development at Chase, a mid-sized lender.

“Mr Ouko has joined KCB with effect from this month,” KCB said in a statement.

He replaces Mr Agin who left the bank late last year, highlighting increased executive poaching seen in the competitive banking industry. Mr Ouko is a banker with over 20 years’ experience at senior levels in various banking institutions.

His appointment comes at a time when medium-sized banks have raised billions of shillings in new capital, pushing for a larger share of the corporate lending segment dominated by big banks like KCB, Barclays and Standard Chartered.

KCB’s corporate loan book stood at Sh116 billion as of December 2013, representing half of its total lending. Deposits by corporate customers stood at Sh136.6 billion in the same period. Mr Ouko is expected to grow the bank’s corporate banking business including in the Islamic banking segment where it is venturing into.

KCB is set to rebrand five branches into fully-fledged Islamic outlets by May but it will also be offering the products alongside conventional services in all other branches.

These are Eastleigh, Kimathi Street, and Hurlingham in Nairobi and Mwembe Tayari and Town Centre in Mombasa. KCB Bank Tanzania has been offering Islamic banking services for years.

The bank is the latest to deepen its presence in Islamic banking, joining rivals like Commercial Bank of Africa.