National Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi has given the green light for Nigeria’s Access Bank to take over the National Bank of Kenya (NBK) in a full acquisition deal.
The development, seen as a major shift in the country’s banking landscape, was officially communicated through a gazette notice published on April 11, 2025.
In the gazette notice, Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) Governor Dr. Kamau Thugge confirmed that Treasury CS John Mbadi had sanctioned the deal.
With this approval, Access Bank will assume full ownership of the National Bank of Kenya, paving the way for NBK's complete separation from the Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) Group, which had been its majority shareholder.
The move also relieves KCB of NBK’s longstanding burden of non-performing loans.
The deal also hands Access Bank control over NBK’s insurance-focused subsidiary, NBK Bancassurance Intermediary Limited (NBBIL).
"It is notified for information of the general public that pursuant to the provisions of Section 9(5) of the Banking Act, the Board of Directors of KCB Group PLC vide a resolution passed on March 20, 2024, approved the acquisition of 100 percent of the issued share capital of National Bank of Kenya Limited by Access Bank PLC as per the Share Purchase Agreement dated March 20, 2024," read the notice in parts.
Access Bank PLC’s Board of Directors had earlier approved the plan to acquire the entire issued share capital of National Bank of Kenya Limited, in line with the Share Purchase Agreement signed on March 20, 2024.
According to the gazette notice, the Central Bank of Kenya approved the acquisition on April 4, 2025.
The notice further stated, "In line with Section 9(1) of the Banking Act, the Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury and Economic Planning granted final approval for the transaction on April 10, 2025."
In October last year, the Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK) gave its nod for the full sale of National Bank of Kenya shares.
As part of its assessment, CAK examined whether the transaction would negatively impact competition within the country’s financial sector and concluded that it posed no such risk.
To mitigate potential job losses, the Authority attached a condition to its approval—Access Bank must retain at least 80% of NBK’s existing workforce for a minimum of one year after the deal is finalized.
The same commitment applies to all employees of Access Bank’s Kenyan subsidiary.
"The transaction has been approved on condition that Access Bank Plc retains, for one (1) year following completion of the transaction, at least 80% of the target’s current workforce and all Access Bank (Kenya) Plc employees," the statement read in part.
Access Bank is a full-service financial institution publicly traded on the Nigerian Stock Exchange and regulated by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
In Kenya, it operates under the name Access Bank (Kenya) Plc, offering a range of retail and corporate banking services through a network of 23 branches spread across 12 counties.
National Bank of Kenya (NBK), on the other hand, is a commercial bank that became a wholly owned subsidiary of KCB Group Plc following its acquisition in 2019.
KCB Group is a publicly listed company on the Nairobi Securities Exchange and is also cross-listed on the stock exchanges in Tanzania, Uganda, and Rwanda.