LAHORE: Bank Al-Habib Ltd in an attempt to tap into the multibillion-dollar international transaction business in its first investment in Africa, has been granted the authority to set up a representative office in Nairobi, Kenya by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) under the name BAHL – Representative Office, it was reported on Wednesday.
According to a report published in a local Kenyan English daily, Bank Al-Habib Ltd has been granted the authority to open a Representative Office under Section 43 of the Banking Act and follows the fulfilment by BAHLP, of the stipulated authorisation requirements under the Kenyan laws.
CBK in a statement issued here said that Bank Al-Habib is opening the office in Kenya by the name BAHL-Representative Office. The bank’s representative office will not carry out commercial banking services but will be allowed to do initial research, marketing and liaison roles on behalf of the parent bank and its affiliates. However, it will later be allowed to launch a full banking subsidiary shortly.
The statement further added, “The authority to open a representative office has been granted to the bank. Bank Al-Habib is a commercial bank headquartered in Pakistan, which offers retail and corporate banking, as well as international trade finance services.”
It is pertinent to mention that Al-Habib’s expansion comes less than a year after the Kenyan regulator reported that such offices in Kenya had doubled the value of the transactions they carried out in 2016 to $2.4 billion.
Bank Al-Habib will operate under the name BAHL – Representative Office to distinguish it from Habib AG Zurich and Habib Bank Ltd that already operate in the region, however, in 2017 were acquired by Diamond Trust Bank Ltd.
Pak-Kuwait Investments Assistant Vice President Adnan Sheikh told Pakistan Today, earlier in 2017, Habib AG Zurich’s and Habib Bank’s Kenyan operations were acquired by Diamond Trust Bank Ltd leaving a gap in the market. “Kenya is the entry point for Pakistan when it comes to trade with the African region and this is a very well thought out move by Bank Al-Habib. House of Habib saw the opportunity and seized it”.
He added this will likely boost remittances, aid international transactions and will help businessmen to expand in the African region.
Bank Al-Habib is a commercial bank headquartered in Pakistan which offers retail and corporate banking, as well as international trade finance services. In addition to its operations in Pakistan, Bank Al-Habib also has a presence in Bahrain, Seychelles, China, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, meanwhile, expansion into Kenya is the first entry into the African region.
Bank Al-Habib’s assets are estimated at around $6.5 billion, similar to Keyna’s KCB Banking Group.
