Last month Absa Bank Kenya launched the La Riba Sultanah account in a move that highlighted one of the fastest growing segments in the country’s banking sector. 

The La Riba Sultanah account is an industry first that exclusively offers women a Shariah compliant financial product in a bid to deepen financial inclusion to an untapped market.

“La Riba Sultanah appeals to us because it caters for a segment that has been forgotten and it is Islamic in nature and it is this need that we saw in the industry that inspired the creation of this offering,” explained Tego Wolasa, Head of Islamic Banking, Absa Bank Kenya. 

Traditionally, women have lagged behind their male counterparts in financial inclusion in the country despite growing evidence suggesting that women account for a large portion of payments and peer to peer transactions in the country’s financial sector. 

Data from the latest FinAccess survey released earlier this year by Financial Sector Deepening, Kenya, FSD indicates that the number of women classified as advanced digital users of fintechs has risen by 62 percent in recent years from 3.5 million in 2021 to 5.7 million last year. 

The survey also found that the number of women who used their formal financial accounts on a daily basis more than doubled, from 2.2 million in 2021 to 5.5 million last year.

Elizabeth Wassuna-Ochwa, Director, Business Banking, Absa Bank Kenya says Absa’s La Riba Sultana account aims to level the playing field by focussing more deliberately on the needs of women entrepreneurs. 

“We are here to support and ensure that each and every woman has the opportunity to run a business in a sustainable manner,” said Elizabeth. “Through Sultanah we will provide women with tailored Shariah compliant financial solutions, capacity building, financial literacy opportunities, networks and platforms that connect women to the markets, mentors and growth opportunities.”

In the launch of its latest offering Absa Bank Kenya is in tandem with industry-led initiatives that are starting to come round to the need to broaden meaningful participation of women in the country’s financial system.

The Kenya Bankers Association, KBA, in partnership with FSD Kenya and Metropol Credit Reference Bureau is currently working to develop an index of how credit flows from commercial banks, microfinance banks (MFBs), SACCOs and digital lenders. The database will be disaggregated by gender, loan size, region, sector and institutional category. 

According to the KBA, part of the reasons for developing the database is to fill a long-standing data gap that has left women-led enterprises largely invincible in national credit and lending datasets. 

The new data, says the KBA, will challenge outdated perceptions that women entrepreneurs are not creditworthy and help build the business case for greater investment to this demographic. 

Yusuf Omari, CFO Absa Bank Kenya invited prospective account holders to explore the new offering and participate in its evolution. 

“We are really glad for Sultanah, the first in the market, dedicated specifically for women and I would urge our customers to embrace it and share a lot of feedback in terms of how we can make it better,” said Omari during the launch. 

La Riba Sultanah is open to all women and account holders pay no monthly maintenance fees and are eligible to receive 3 percent profit paid on average account balances of KES50,000 that is paid quarterly. 

Account holders are also eligible to get up to 0.5 percent cashback on all debit card and e-commerce transactions and can opt their children into the La Riba Junior Account that pays out profit quarterly. 

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