Morocco’s Biggest Bank ‘Attijariwafa’ Targets Kenya in Acquisition Plans

Attijariwafa Bank, Morocco-based biggest bank, has revealed its plans to acquire several acquisitions in Africa in the coming year with a special interest in Rwanda, Kenya, and Ethiopia.

Attijariwafa has an asset base of 51.0 billion dollars and prides of branches in Cameroon, Congo Republic, Egypt, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal, Tunisia, and Togo.

The bank emphasized its plans to acquire banks that are ranked among the first five banks, in terms of asset base, in their respective operating markets.

Attijariwafa Bank, in August 2017, acquired the Egyptian unit of Barclays, with the transaction details yet to be disclosed. Attijariwafa’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) pointed out that the acquisition happened at almost twice the bank’s equity, which translates to 0.5 billion dollars, with the bank’s equity at the time being 0.3 billion dollars.

The 5 largest banks in Kenya by asset base include Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB), Equity Group Holdings, Cooperative Bank, Standard Chartered Bank Kenya, and Diamond Trust Bank Kenya. There is no indication that any of these banks could be up for sale and Attijariwafa would hence have to check with second and third tier banks.

The Kenyan banking sector has had several acquisitions in the last five years, with that of Chase Bank by SBM Bank Kenya being the most recent. The acquisition of Imperial Bank Limited under Receivership by KCB is still ongoing, with the Kenya Deposit Insurance Corporation (KDIC) acknowledging the receipt of the revised proposal from KCB in July 2018.