REMARKS
BY
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GOVERNOR
CENTRAL BANK OF KENYA
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Governor’s Remarks - Bank of India’s 105th Foundation Day Celebrations – 07/09/10
Your Excellency Sibabrata Tripathi, High
Commissioner of India to Kenya;
Dr. Manu Chandaria, Chairman, Bank of India
Local Advisory Committee;
Mr. Maganbhai Dhodia, Chief Executive, Bank of
India, Kenya;
The Local Advisory Committee Members;
Management and Staff of Bank of India, Kenya;
Distinguished Guests;
Ladies and Gentlemen:
It is my pleasure to join you on this auspicious
occasion celebrating Bank of India’s 105th
foundation day. I appreciate the invitation to
share in the celebrations. Allow me at the onset to
commend the Bank of India, its advisory
committee members, management and staff for
steering the institution from a single office in
Mumbai in 1906 to its current international
status. Kenya has benefited a lot in these
developments.

Governor’s Remarks - Bank of India’s 105th Foundation Day Celebrations – 07/09/10
Ladies and Gentlemen: From 1969 the Bank of
India became public owned and has expanded in
leaps and bounds to claim its position in the global
market with 29 foreign offices, and more than
3,200 branches, including 141 specialized
branches and 48 zonal offices in India. In Kenya,
the bank has grown from the one branch
established in Mombasa in 1953, to the current
four branches country wide. With regard to its
Kenya operations, I note that as at July 2010, the
bank had an impressive asset portfolio of Ksh.17
billion and customer deposits of Ksh.14 billion,
supported by a capital base of Ksh.2.4 billion.
Mr. Chairman: The impressive performance of
Bank of India is consistent with the continued
commendable performance of Kenya’s banking
industry. Some key highlights of this performance
for the period from July 2009 to end of July 2010
are;

Governor’s Remarks - Bank of India’s 105th Foundation Day Celebrations – 07/09/10
• Assets grew by 26 percent to stand at Ksh.1.6
trillion;
• Total deposits grew by Ksh.270 billion,
representing a 28 percent growth rate, to stand
at Ksh.1.2 trillion;
• Gross advances amounted to Ksh.848 billion,
having grown by Ksh.128 billion from a similar
period in 2009;
• A profit before tax of Ksh.42.8 billion was
registered in the last seven months compared
to Ksh.28.5 billion in July 2009, a growth rate
of 50 percent;
• The number of bank branches at the end of July
2010 stood at 1,020 an increase of 24 branches
from the end of December 2009;
• The number of bank accounts has increased by
35 percent from 7.9 million accounts in July
2009 to 10.7 million as at the end of July 2010.
This impressive growth has been supported by the
expansion of banks into new market segments,
prudent risk management and enhanced

Governor’s Remarks - Bank of India’s 105th Foundation Day Celebrations – 07/09/10
economic prospects underpinned by a stable
macroeconomic environment. The Central Bank
expects the banking sector to continue on this
growth trajectory. Ongoing reform initiatives by
the Government and CBK will serve to further
propel the banking sector to new frontiers of
financial inclusion for more Kenyans. For this
reason, the Central Bank together with Kenya
Bankers Association has been keen to move in the
directions that market requires support.
Mr. Chairman: We need now to concentrate on
reducing costs of doing business for banks so that
we can bring down costs of financial services. For
example, the recently introduced credit
information sharing platform will enable banks to
extend more credit to productive sectors boosting
wealth and employment creation. The information
sharing platform will help develop the required
information capital that will support an adoption
of a new collateral technology in the market and
reduce the information search costs. This will be
especially important for Small and Medium
Enterprises and individuals who have been

Governor’s Remarks - Bank of India’s 105th Foundation Day Celebrations – 07/09/10
constrained in accessing credit due to lack of
physical collateral. However, the benefits of credit
information sharing will only accrue if banks and
other information providers ensure information
availed to the Bureaus is accurate and credible. It
is therefore imperative that banks and their
customers and licensed Credit Reference Bureaus
continue to work together to ensure accuracy and
credibility of records.
On its part the Central Bank will continue to work
with other players to extend the reach of the credit
information sharing mechanism beyond the
banking sector. But so far, we are encouraged
with the first batch of information sent to CRB
Africa – 78 percent of it was accurate – with no
errors. This shows that the information template
reflects the true picture in the banking sector.
Ladies and Gentlemen: The second area in
reducing cost of doing business is the cost of
rolling out branch networks to reach Kenyans
cost-effectively. This will work well with the

Governor’s Remarks - Bank of India’s 105th Foundation Day Celebrations – 07/09/10
introduction of Agent Banking. The CBK has so
far licensed 5,892 Agents since the roll out in May
2010.
Ladies and Gentlemen: The third area to lower
cost of doing business is for you banks – you have
to develop innovative products for the market.
You have to lower cost on these products to ensure
uptake and volume.
The Central Bank will continue more forcefully
with its four dimensional approach: Advise;
cultivate partnership; develop and regulate the
market. This approach will ensure innovative
policies that work for the market and ensure
financial inclusion for all Kenyans and also
market’s stability.
With these few remarks, Ladies and Gentlemen,
let me once again applaud the Bank of India on
your 105th Foundation Day, and wish the bank
continued prosperity in the years to come – not
only in Kenya but also in the EAC market.

Governor’s Remarks - Bank of India’s 105th Foundation Day Celebrations – 07/09/10
Thank You