Cautionary Announcement:

Irrelevant bank...waste of time purchase.

Which one??

Click Here Giro FY14

Click Here Giro 1Q15

Click Here Giro 2Q15

Indians are converging towards One bank I&M bank which they will use to secure financing in their projects within east Africa.
That is why the bank is growing very fast.
Indians at CFCStnabic sold to Standard Bank SA and took their money to I&M Bank
Same case applied to East Africa Building Society which was sold to Ecobank.
And the same will apply to Fina Bank which was sold to Nigerian GT Bank

Giro Bank has 0.5% market share [combined index]. I&M has 4.10%. So it doesn't get I&M over 5% [the threshold for 'big bank'] yet unless it can grab more market share from other banks.

Nevertheless, it's about gradual gains for some of these banks as they grow. A merger between I&M and NIC/DTB would have been more exciting.

@vvs. I&M Vs DTB. Management,Valuations and future potential. Which one do you prefer.

Is CBK issuing banking licenses?
Can I&M 'sell' the banking license that Giro Bank has?
Is the ultimate aim to bulk up to sell out to a foreign bank?

GTB - Fina
Ecobank - Akiba/EABS
Bank M - Credit Bank
Stanbic - CFC

I am surprised that UBA hasn't folded. UBA would have been much better off buying 2-3 small Kenyan banks over time.

Instead of forcing mergers like Treasury wanted let the mergers happen naturally e.g. I&M buying Giro, etc

There was a rumor of a CBA-NIC tie-up which would make CBA a public company without the need for an IPO.

@VituVingiSana
The strategy here is for Indians to converge under one bank that can serve them adequately
United we stand divided we fall.

I disagree. I think Banking in Kenya has slowly evolved (or evolving) towards banking for all. You cannot grow your market share if you remain insular. Money not ethnicity is what counts.

I&M has opened branches in what may be considered 'non-Asian' areas over the past 2-3 years (after going public). Check their website.

DTB has rapidly expanded across Kenya (& EAC) under the current CEO e.g. Kilifi, Mtwapa, etc without denying they do have the support of the Aga Khan's followers.

Equity has a Kenyan-Asian as the COO. He is 44 years old & the 35-50 year olds represents the next generation of (non-family) business 'leaders' as the current crop retires. The ED of I&M is 47.

Equity was a Kikuyu bank but it changed substantially since it listed. It is a regional bank with customers & staff of all hues.

My initial reaction was that I&M bought Giro to enter Uganda but I do not know if Giro has a Ugandan operation.

Uganda is a missing link for I&M (while DTB is missing in Rwanda).
http://www.businessdaily.../-/kc2gvmz/-/index.html

As @ericsson said, the books seem clean. I am sure I&M will go through the Balance Sheet with a fine comb. The 2Q results for Giro Bank are available online and I was impressed at the low level of NPLs and lots of GoK Bonds.

@VituVingiSana
I&M is a closely knit bank majority owned and controlled by the shah family who also own Sarit Center.
The info I am giving is a deep insider info.
Look also at the movement of this guy "Madhoubushi Soundararajan".He was the former CEO of CFC bank before it was bought by Standard Bank.
He is/was a director at I&M bank and currently he is a non-executive director at Giro Bank.
His main task is to establish relationships for Indians to be united in how they do business here in Kenya so as to be able to fight the onslaught of Chinese.
If you a random check of the shopping malls being built by Indians go do a research to know the major financier.
I&M bank is becoming their financier for big pocket tenders and deals;Where I&M is unable that is when they approach the likes of KCB.
Madhoubushi Soundararajan was at one time a non-executive director at General Accident and the next thing we heard was I&M acquired the institution.
Yes the bank has opened branches in places with no large asian community in the name of banking for all but the core mandate still remains which I have mentioned.