Forty-one banks in the Kenyan banking system (plus three non-bank financial institutions and a building society) at the end of 2006 seems rather a lot, given that Tier 1 capital for the top bank in the country was only 12,375m shillings ($178m) at the financial year end.
Africa is changing and it is not just $11.7bn of Chinese investment in recent years that is making a difference. Nigeria’s banks are bulking up as a result of central bank governor Charles Soludo’s new capital requirements, and are becoming bigger and stronger through multiple mergers and acquisitions.