Gulf African Bank

Gulf African Bank
Company typePrivate
IndustryBanking
Founded2008 (2008)
HeadquartersNairobi, Kenya
Key people
Abdalla Abdulkhalik (chief executive officer & board member
RevenueIncreaseAftertax: US$3,902, 912 million (KES:402 million) (2014)
Total assetsUS$212.805, 271 million (KES:21.918,943 billion) (2014)
Websitewww.gulfafricanbank.com

Gulf African Bank (GAB), whose full name is Gulf African Bank Limited, is a commercial bank in Kenya operating under an Islamic banking regime. It is licensed by the Central Bank of Kenya, the central bank and national banking regulator.[1]

As of December 2014 the bank was a mid-sized financial services provider in Kenya. Its total assets were valued at approximately US$191.8 million (KES:19, 753, 647 billion), with customer deposits totalling approximately US$153.3 million (KES:15.8 billion), and shareholders' equity estimated at US$30.6 million (KES:3.15 billion).[2] At that time, the bank was ranked number 25, by assets, out of the 43 licensed banks in Kenya then.[3] The bank has plans to enter Uganda and Tanzania.[4]

History

Discussions to establish the bank started in 2005, by individuals and institutions from the Persian Gulf and Kenya. The bank began banking operations in 2008, after receiving a commercial banking license and authorisation to establish a Sharia bank, from the Central Bank of Kenya. Gulf African Bank is the second commercial bank in Kenya to receive authorisation to practice Sharia banking, after First Community Bank, which opened in 2007. At the time it opened, Gulf African Bank's capital base totalled over US$21 million (KES:1.75 billion).[5]

Ownership

The shares of stock in Gulf African Bank are privately held by institutional and private investors from the Persian Gulf, Kenya and the United States of America. Institutional investors account for over 90% shareholding. The major shareholders in the bank include the investors listed in the table below. In September 2012, the International Finance Corporation acquired 16% shareholding in the bank for US$5 million. It is not clear how the shareholding will look after the money changes hands.[6][7]

Gulf African Bank Stock Ownership
Rank Name of Owner Percentage Ownership
1 Istithmar PJS of United Arab Emirates – A Private Equity Firm 32.0
2 BMI Bank of Bahrain 21.3
3 Sheikh Abdallah Mohammed Al Romaizan of Saudi Arabia – An Individual 21.3
4 GulfCap Group of United Arab Emirates – A Private Investment Company 10.3
5 PTA Bank of Eastern and Southern Africa – A Multinational Development Bank 5.3
6 International Finance Corporation (IFC), An affiliate of the World Bank 16.0
7 Other Individual Investors from Kenya and the Persian Gulf 9.8
Total 100.00
  • The totals are off because shareholding data after IFC investment is lacking.

Branch network

As of August 2014, the bank operates a network of branches at the following locations:[8]

  1. Head Office – Geminia Insurance Plaza, Kilimanjaro Avenue, Nairobi
  2. Lamu Branch – Old Telkom Office, Jomo Kenyatta Road, Lamu
  3. Kenyatta Avenue Branch – Ground Floor, Hughes Building, Kenyatta Avenue, Nairobi
  4. Eastleigh Branch II – Shariff Centre Building, Jam Street, Eastleigh, Nairobi
  5. Bombolulu Branch – Madina Estate, New Mombasa-Malindi Highway, Bombolulu, Mombasa
  6. Westlands Branch – 9 West Building, Westlands, Nairobi]
  7. Enterprise Branch – Addis Ababa Road, Off Enterprise Road, Nairobi
  8. Upper Hill Branch – Ground Floor, Geminia Ins. Plaza, Kilimanjaro Ave., Upper Hill, Nairobi
  9. Jomo Kenyatta Branch – Kasa Building, Jomo Kenyatta Avenue, Mombasa
  10. Malindi Branch – Blue Marlin Building, Lamu Road, Malindi
  11. Garissa Branch – First House, Al-Waqf Quran House, Kismayu Road, Garissa
  12. Nkrumah Road Branch – Najat House, Nkrumah Road, Mombasa
  13. Eastleigh Main Branch – Eastleigh Mall Building, General Wariunge Street, Eastleigh, Nairobi
  14. Bondeni Branch – Abdel Nasser Road, Bondeni, Mombasa

See also

References

  1. ^ "Directory of Commercial Banks And Mortgage Finance Companies" (PDF). Central Bank of Kenya. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  2. ^ "Gulf African Bank Audited 31 December 2013 Financial Statements". Gulf African Bank. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  3. ^ "Kenya Bank Rankings By Assets In 2013". Bankelele.Co.Ke. 28 April 2014. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  4. ^ Juma, Victor (25 November 2010). "East Africa: Upbeat Gulf African Bank Eyes Regional Market". The Citizen (Tanzania). Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  5. ^ Michira, Moses (3 June 2010). "Kenya: Gulf African Bank Joins Profit-Makers' Curve". Business Daily Africa (Nairobi) via AllAfrica.com. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
  6. ^ Gachiri, John (6 September 2012). "Gulf African Bank in KSh674 Million Finance Deal With IFC". Business Daily Africa (Nairobi). Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  7. ^ Sud, Neha; McNally, John (29 April 2014). "IFC Expands Partnership with Gulf African Bank To Support Islamic Finance And Entrepreneurs in Kenya". International Finance Corporation (IFC). Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  8. ^ "The Branch Network of Gulf African Bank". Gulf African Bank. Retrieved 8 August 2014.