MOGADISHU (Halbeeg News)-Kenyan commercial bank said it’s eyeing Somalia in its market expansion strategy this year.
One of the most prominent financial institutions in the region said it is looking to set up subsidiaries in Somalia and the other ten countries as it seems to grow its regional footprint.
The lender’s chief executive officer, Joshua Oigara, said in an interview on Tuesday with Business Daily that KCB is optimistic that ongoing reforms in the region will pave the way for the bank to open a fully-fledged branch before the end of next year.
Oigara, however, said that some technical issues related to registration are delaying the bank introduction into promising Somalia market.
He said Somalia has, however, proved to be a more robust market, saying lack of government structures on registration of persons makes it hard for a lender to apply international regulations on money laundering.
Several multinational banks have shown their interest to explore and operate in Somalia as relative calm returns in the country in past years.
According to the Somali central bank, there are already some international banks which have requested permits to operate, and they are awaiting registration procedures.
Local banks have flourished opening branches across the country for the past five years.
Discussion about this post