Bank Al-Habib Ltd (BAHL) has exited kenyan market. On Monday The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) confirmed that it has cancelled the approval which allowed the bank to operate a representative office in Nairobi.
The decision comes after a request by the bank, which cited internal restructuring and a move to scale down its foreign operations. The exit took effect on May 15.
Its Nairobi office mainly handled liaison and marketing functions for its international operations
Bank Al-Habib based in Karachi, had been in Kenya since 2018 but wasn’t offering regular banking services.
Under Kenyan law, representative offices are barred from engaging in core banking activities.
The lender is among the major private banks in Pakistan, with a network of over 1,000 branches at home and a footprint in several global financial centres.
The Nairobi office was its only operation in East Africa.
CBK made it clear that the shutdown was not by any rule violation or financial stress, and that orderly exit procedures were followed.
It also separately announced that it would lift a nine-year prohibition on issuing new commercial banks.
The moratorium, which was imposed in 2015 to stabilize the banking sector, ends July 1.
