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Oriental Bank dons a new face after buyout by Tanzania firm

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M Holdings Limited (MHL), a company promoted by majority shareholders of Bank M in Tanzania, has been licensed by Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), to operate as non-operating bank holding company. CBK has also approved acquisition of 51% shares by MHL in Oriental Commercial Bank Limited and a change of the bank’s name to M Oriental Bank Limited.

Bank M, operationalised in July, 2007, is among the top 8 banks in Tanzania. Oriental Commercial Bank Limited (OCB) was licensed by CBK in 1991 and currently has a retail foot print. OCB has total assets of Ksh8.49 billion and is ranked among the small peer group banks in Kenya.




MHL completed the first phase acquisition of Oriental Commercial Bank on 7th June, 2016.

The bank’s Chairman Shanti V Shah said the partnership with M Holdings will see the bank reach new heights and emerge as a strong regional player. “M Oriental Bank Limited (MOBL) is being repositioned as a wholesale bank focused on large business families in Kenya offering innovative products and services. MHL, whose promoters have created Bank M as a strong wholesale bank in Tanzania, aspires to transform the MOBL as the preferred bank for large business families in Kenya,” he added.

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Speaking to the press, Sanjeev Kumar, the director of M Holdings and Group Chief Executive Officer said: “The banking sector in Kenya is dominated by universal banking models and currently no other bank is operating exclusively in the Wholesale Banking space. This will be a major differentiator that will set MOBL apart from the other banks operating in Kenya”.

In Tanzania, Bank M currently has 305 families as clients and a client facing staff complement of 174. What this ensures is that every client experiences personalised service. While this pushes up the staff costs, Bank M and the promoters of MHL are convinced that the client satisfaction delivered more than makes up for the additional costs. Under its wholesale banking model, the bank aims to have relationships with around six hundred business families in Kenya and proposes that MOBL will, at all times, have at least one client facing staff member handling a maximum of three clients.

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While personalised and customised service can take a bank so far, what marks the difference is service delivery of a scale unmatched by it’s peers in the business. To achieve this, MOBL, following the footsteps of its counterpart in Tanzania, is introducing a quality assurance initiative, the only one of it’s kind in Africa, called “Service Standard Guarantees” (SSG). SSG promises that the bank will deliver what it has promised.




Deficiencies in service delivery, if it ever happens, are compensated by payment of a penalty or refund of the fee collected”.  Service Standard Guarantees offered by Bank M in Tanzania have redefined the standards in meeting clients’ expectations and the SSGs remain unmatched to date in the local, regional and African markets.

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