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Commercial banks are the most dominant depositing institutions in the country's financial system.
They dominate the business of mobilising domestic financial savings which they onlend to various productive economic activities. The origin of commercial banking in Kenya was linked to the commercial connections between India and the East African region which existed towards the end of the 19th century. The National Bank of India was the first to open an office in Mombasa in 1896 after the establishment of the British presence in the area. Two of these three banks were branches of British banks established in London. These banks, like all the other British banks at the time, followed the development of trade in the colonies and concentrated on the finance of international trade.