Sidian Bank Receives Ksh 2 Billion, 5-Year Loan for SME Investment
Kenya’s Sidian Bank is poised for expansion with the support of a US$20 million, 5-Year loan facility from The Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank (FMO), a development bank.
The additional funding will support the bank’s growth plans to further its investment in affordable credit to its SME clients and privately-owned business enterprises as it works towards earning Tier 2 status.
“We are pleased to report that as of 30th June 2019, the bank’s assets stood at KSh24.5 Billion. This together with the loan facility from FMO, will support the growth of the bank’s assets by an additional Ksh. 2 billion bringing the bank closer to attaining Tier 2 status by 2022,” said Dr. James Mworia, Chairman of the Board – Sidian Bank.
The bank has maintained a steady growth this year with a net profit of KSh43 million as of 30th June 2019. The Trade Finance business being a focus area for the bank closed at KSh14 Billion as at 30th June 2019.
Linda Broekhuizen, FMO Chief Investment Officer highlighted that: “We are happy to be affiliated with Sidian Bank and its shareholders in realizing a common goal of investing in supporting the growth of SMEs and entrepreneurs contributing to economic growth and development of Kenya.”
Chege Thumbi, Chief Executive Officer at Sidian Bank, further added: “This funding comes at a time when the bank has a full turn around to profitability and increased asset growth which brings us closer to achieving our 5-year strategic goals. With this investment, the bank will be in a position to increase financial backing to SMEs and entrepreneurs contributing towards our aspiration of becoming the bank of choice for SMEs and entrepreneurs and in support of the government big 4 agenda.”
****
In March, Sidian Bank received Ksh 1.2 billion convertible loan from The Investment Fund for Developing Countries (IFU), a Danish Development Finance Institution (DFI) to strengthen its capital ratios. In October, it received KSh300 million from Dutch Private equity fund Oiko Credit to support SMEs and Micro-Enterprises.
This was the second batch that the lender was receiving from Oikocredit, as part of the initial KSh600 million credit facility secured in December 2016.
