New exclusive banking service for Kenya’s rich

CfC Stanbic Bank, Kenya’s sixth largest lender, has launched a new service aimed at high net worth individuals with investible assets of over US$1 million.

The Private Clients offering provides rich customers with a full spectrum of services, including specialised lending and investment solutions. They will also have a dedicated relationship manager to attend to their needs. “Our aim is to bring exclusivity back to banking,” commented Anjali Harkoo, head of the Private Clients business.

“We have seen an increasing number of wealthy people in Kenya and the larger East African region,” said Elly Odhong’, CfC Stanbic’s head of personal and business banking, in an interview with How we made it in Africa from Kenya.

“East Africa has actually been leading in economic growth in Africa … Certainly it follows that also the wealthy people will actually grow,” he added.

According to Odhong’, research has shown that there are about 6,900 people in East Africa that can be considered high net worth individuals, although Standard Bank believes this figure could be higher.

So who are these super rich? Odhong’ explained it is a combination of business people, expats and politicians. Most are, however, somehow engaged in business. “You do find politicians who involve themselves in business as well,” he said.

“In order to deliver our value proposition, we don’t plan to grow aggressively,” said Harkoo. “We want to retain a low ratio of clients to relationship managers. For us it’s more important to partner with the right clients in providing tailor made solutions that reflect our clients’ appetite for risk and factor in their life stage, family, professional position, business needs and other personal circumstances,” she added.