Former KCB Group CEO Joshua Oigara has made a comeback to a familiar territory after being appointed the CEO, Stanbic Bank Kenya and South Sudan effective December 1st, this year.

In early October, Bloomberg reported that Mr Oigara was being groomed for the role, citing “people with knowledge of the matter.” Mr Oigara will be succeeding Mr Charles Mudiwa who will retire after a career spanning two decades with the pan-African lender.

Stanbic Holdings, previously known as CfC Stanbic Holdings Limited, is a Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed company headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, and has subsidiaries in Kenya and South Sudan.

Stanbic Holdings belongs to the Standard Bank Group, a South African financial services conglomerate.

Until May this year, Mr Oigara served at the helm of the KCB Group for close to 10 years where he oversaw the advancement of the lender from a modest national bank to a regional financial services behemoth with operations in six countries including Tanzania, South Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Ethiopia.

During his tenure at the helm of KCB Group, profit before tax increased from Kes20.1 billion in 2013 to Kes47 billion in 2021; total income more than doubled from Kes47 billion in 2013 to Kes109 billion in 2021, while shareholder equity tripled from Kes63 billion in 2013 to Kes171.7 billion in 2021.

Read also: Stanbic profit hits Sh7.2 billion, dividend payout doubles

Also in the period, KCB’s loan book grew three-fold from Kes227 billion to Kes 675.4 billion, while the bank’s branches increased from 237 to 492. The lender's customer base grew from 2.5 million in 2013 to 25 million in 2021, a ten-fold build up.

Mr Oigara takes the reins at Stanbic Bank at a time when its South Sudan subsidiary at loggerheads with the country’s banking sector regulator, the Bank of South Sudan (BOSS), which threatened to revoke Stanbic’s license, following the cancellation of a $7.2 million payment to a government contractor in August.

BOSS is also eyeing more autonomy for Stanbic Bank South Sudan, wanting it to be operated as a subsidiary not too beholden to Nairobi.

With this appointment, the Stanbic Bank board will leverage Mr Oigara’s vast wealth of knowledge and expertise in finance to propel the bank to its next level of growth. 

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