Equity Bank cashing in on Chinese arrivals
Kenya's Equity Bank has scored 2 billion shillings in new deposits in less than six months from a specialised branch in Nairobi to support local Chinese business, helping boost its half-year results, the company said on Monday.
"The Chinese are dominating the development of infrastructure in our country and they are creating SMEs (small and medium enterprises) to support the supply chain," Chief Executive James Mwangi told Reuters.
"In just under six months of opening, it has built up a deposit base of over 2 billion shillings. That takes our traditional branches over 20 years to build," Mwangi said.
The bank had hired Chinese personnel to staff the new branch in the capital so that it could do more business with Chinese firms and residents, who work in many areas of the economy, including building roads and retail, he said.
The bank is offering letters of credit and bid bonds for Chinese businesses as part of a push on trade finance generally, helping raise non loan-related income to 36 percent of the total from 33 percent in the same period a year ago.