Access Bank Kenya and NBK to Consolidate After CBK Approves Asset Transfer
The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has approved the transfer of the business, assets and liabilities of Access Bank (Kenya) Plc to National Bank of Kenya Limited (NBK), bringing the two banks closer to operating as a single banking business under the NBK name.
CBK said on September 23, 2026, that it had approved the transaction on August 17 under Section 13(4) of the Banking Act. The Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury and Economic Planning subsequently approved it on September 21 under Section 9(1) of the Banking Act.
The transfer will take effect once the transaction is completed in accordance with the Business and Assets Transfer Agreement between the two banks. CBK said the transaction is expected to support stability and resilience in Kenya’s banking sector while promoting competition.
What is happening to Access Bank Kenya?
Under the approved transaction, all assets and liabilities of Access Bank Kenya will be transferred to NBK.
This means NBK will assume the operations of Access Bank Kenya rather than Access Bank Kenya absorbing NBK. The transaction represents the next stage of Access Bank’s integration of its two Kenyan banking businesses.
The two institutions had continued operating independently after Access Bank acquired NBK from KCB Group in 2025. NBK’s own disclosures said the banks would remain separate while integration processes were completed.
How Access Bank and NBK built their presence in Kenya
Access Bank’s Kenyan expansion began in February 2020, when Access Bank Plc acquired 100% of Transnational Bank Plc.
Transnational Bank had started operations in December 1985 and was subsequently renamed Access Bank (Kenya) Plc. The bank later pursued a much larger acquisition through NBK.
In March 2024, Access Bank agreed to acquire 100% of NBK from KCB Group. Following the required regulatory approvals, the transaction was completed on May 30, 2025, making NBK a wholly owned subsidiary of Access Bank Plc.
That created an unusual structure in which Access Bank controlled two separate Kenyan banks: NBK and Access Bank Kenya.
NBK brings a longer-established Kenyan banking franchise. It was incorporated in 1968 as a fully government-owned institution, with the original objective of helping Kenyans access credit and participate more fully in the economy after independence.
KCB Group acquired 100% of NBK in September 2019 before selling the bank to Access Bank in 2025.
The transaction therefore completes a sequence that has involved three major ownership changes for NBK: its original government ownership, the 2019 acquisition by KCB Group and the 2025 acquisition by Access Bank.
Access Bank’s wider African expansion
Access Bank Plc is part of Access Holdings Plc and has expanded across several African markets.
CBK lists the group’s subsidiaries in Botswana, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa and Zambia.
The group also has a subsidiary in the United Kingdom, representative offices in China, India and Lebanon, and a branch in the United Arab Emirates.
