Mauritius’s SBM Holdings injected an additional Sh405 million into its subsidiary SBM Bank Kenya in the financial year ended December 2025, reflecting a race by commercial banks to comply with the Central Bank of Kenya’s new capital requirements of Sh10 billion by 2029.
The latest capital injection is in addition to Sh819 million and Sh471 million that SBM Kenya received from the parent firm in 2024 and 2023 respectively, pushing the lender’s core capital to Sh7.68 billion at the end of 2025. The capital grew further to Sh7.78 billion at the end of March this year.
This core capital is however lower compared to Sh8.03 billion recorded in 2024.
"From a balance sheet perspective, loans and advances increased moderately from MUR (Mauritian Rupees) 16.5 billion to MUR 16.9 billion, while deposits grew strongly from MUR 25.2 billion to MUR 29.7 billion, enhancing the funding base and liquidity position," the multinational said of its Kenyan subsidiary in its latest annual report.
"Total assets rose from MUR 37.2 billion to MUR 38.1 billion and shareholders’ equity improved from MUR 3.3 billion to MUR 3.7 billion, supported by a capital injection of MUR 146.6 million (Sh405 million) from SBMH."
The support from the parent firm comes against higher capital requirements starting with Sh3 billion by December 2025, up from the previous Sh1 billion.
The Kenya Business Laws (Amendment) Act adopted by parliament in 2024 increased the minimum core capital requirement for banks from Sh1 billion to Sh10 billion in five years (from 2025 to 2029) to bolster financial stability, absorb systemic risks, and create lenders with larger balance sheets.
Under the staggered capital increment plan commercial banks were required to increase their minimum core capital from Sh1 billion to Sh3 billion by December 31 2025.
Afterwards the banks are required to gradually increase their minimum core capital to Sh5 billion in 2026, Sh6 billion in 2027, Sh8 billion in 2028 and Sh10 billion in 2029.
“When need for more capital arises ,the group explores various recapitalization options including injection of share capital ,raising tier capital as well as optimization of the total risk weighted assets ,” SBM Bank Kenya says through its latest annual report.
The lender’s core capital to total risk weighted assets ratio stood at 13.8 percent compared to CBK minimum of 10.5 percent in 2025 , while liquidity ratio of the bank stood at 47.6 percent compared to CBK minimum of 20 percent.
“Both ratios imply that the bank has sufficient headroom for more business,” the lender says.
SBM Bank Kenya made a net profit of Sh444.21 million in 2025 from a net loss of Sh1.21 billion in 2024 largely driven by increased interest and non-interest incomes, coupled with prudent cost containment measures.
SBM Holdings entered Kenya in May 2017 by acquisition of Fidelity Commercial Bank for a token $1 (Sh128.17) consideration in a rescue deal and renamed it SBM Bank Kenya before making a $20 million (Sh2.56 billion) capital injection.
The Mauritian-headquartered lender in August 2018 also acquired certain assets and liabilities of Chase Bank Kenya which was then under receivership for MUR 162,158 (Sh434, 642) and added to SBM Bank Kenya.
The group committed to inject $60 million (Sh7.69 billion).
Last year (2025) SBM Bank Kenya operated 33 branches spread across the country with customer deposits increasing by 20 percent from Sh69 billion in 2024 to Sh82 billion in 2025.
