CBA is owned by the Kenyatta family.

In my books muhindi used in the above context is derogatory, wouldn't it sound better to call it an Asian bank - am I over-reacting?

no GG you are not over-reacting. Most of them are 3-4th generation Kenyan and dont appreciate being called "muhindi" I have a bunch of friends in the community and a good number of them can't even speak hindi or gujerati..

what this guru says is not correct...why should he/she be called "INDIAN"(a citizen of India) yet, he/she still has to get a visa to go to India??
BTW, guru, "Indian" isnt a race, its a "Nationality"!! So are you trying to say that these banks are owned by "Indian (ie foreign) nationals"???

Another observation, most people my age(in their 20s) dont refer to others by their ethnicity or race....its some of the older guys n gals who start distinguishing people along ethnic/racial divides"huyo ni Mjaruo or muhindi etc"

I think the question was "who(as an individual)" rather than what race/ethnicity owns a particular bank

Kama mtu ni Mhindi ni Mhindi!

@ horton there is a book aptly titled the capitalist kneegrow that will dissuade you of the notion that a mhindi may be something else other than

ethnicity in banking is nothing new..all the banks in the federal reserve system are historically jewish

I think this horton hates swahili and wants english only. Ati use asian instead of mhindi? Do you know the French have gender for things like chairs and spoons? Moral: don't critisize a language you clearly don't understand

@sparkly peace. I see no offense was meant.

So which other small banks can we expect to merge? Not sure CBA would merge (noting its MPesa angle and Kenyatta family)

But what about say Chase Bank?

Southern credit does not belong to one simeon nyachae?

Of the about 45 banks in Kenya, 35 are localy owned and 10 foreign owned with 3 of these having substantial GoK holding. Like them or not, the Asian-owned banks make up most of tier 2/ a lot of the locally owned banks in town. And a good no. of locally owned banks are run by families eg:

Merali - Equatorial Bank
Manu Chandaria - Fina (South Africans bought stake) & Guardian
Moi n Family - TransNational Bank
Total Man - Middle East Bank

Kenya's banking industry is growing, but is not yet mature.
The level of financial sophistication/ innovation is low - for instance, product-wise they offer almost the same products, showing little innovation/ creativity and thus making the quality of service delivery THE key differentiator. I mean all of them offer current and savings accounts, and the difference bewteen these at bank A or B is minimal, if any!
Some folks say the kenya banking sector is over-banked and we should do a Nigerian and reduce these to about 20 well-capitalised banks the way Nigerians reduced their 85 banks to abt 25 only. But even with all these 45 banks the level of unbanked kenyans is still high at >4m folks. Safaricom has happily snapped the 4m up on MPESA where the subscribers run online accounts.
But IMHO, M&As will be slow in happening despite the recent merger & acquisition of City Finance, as well as Southern Credit & Equatorial Bank's merger. Each bank clearly wants to retain its identity, painfully created over time. On the products/services front - mergers & acquisitions don't really bring home any new products or services as it is merely an acquisition of what has been established - take Stanbic for instance, so they acquired CFC but what new products have rolled of the new larger bank? Zit! Stanbic merely acquired CFC's large retail business/ brand.
Case of NBK?