Barclays Bank Poised to Drive Retail Business

Equities

Wednesday’s trading was marked by an improvement on the indices and a decline in the value of transactions. The NSE-20 share index edged up marginally by 0.68% to close at 3815.40 points while the NSE All Share Index (NASI) closed in the red, plummeting by 0.25% to close at 139.89 points. The NSE-25 Share index was similarly on an uptrend, advancing by a meagre 0.10% to close at 4062.42 points. Investors’ wealth contracted by 0.25% to close at KES 1,969.97 billion from KES 1,974.93 billion whilst equity turnover cut back 3.09% to close at KES 0.478 billion. Market breadth measured by A/D ratio strengthened to 1.25x from 1.00x, illustrative that markets conditions had relatively improved.

Barclays Bank of Kenya will be the first international lender to commence agency banking, after it stated its intentions to embrace the model from March 2016. The value of transactions done through agency banking has crossed the trillion shilling mark, indicative that the new alternative channels are increasingly driving the banks’ revenues. So far, 17 commercial banks had contracted 39,871 agents as at September 2015, who conducted over 193.4Mn transactions valued at KES 1 trillion. The adoption of the agency model will help the lender delve deeper into the retail business, thus growing its portfolio away from the predominant corporate lending business.

Equity Market Highlights

Bamburi Cement Ltd (NSE: BAMB) was the most actively traded stock today accounting for 40.69% of the total market value traded activity. KCB Group Ltd (NSE: KCB) maintained the second position, accounting for 17.84% of the total market turnover.

Standard Group Ltd (NSE: SGL) retained its pole position on the price chart, surging by 9.43% to KES 29.00. This was on account of only 900 shares traded. CFC Stanbic of Kenya Holdings Ltd (NSE: CFC) posted an 8.90% gain, to close the day at KES 79.50.

Umeme Ltd (NSE: UMME) capped the laggards list, slumping by 10.00% to close at KES 18.00. Atlas Development & Support Services Ltd (NSE: ADSS) trailed behind, depreciating by 6.25% to close the day at KES 1.50.

Original article here.