Representative offices of foreign banks in Kenya saw a significant decline in transactions last year. According to the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), the nine representative offices conducted business valued at Sh210.9 billion ($1.6 billion) in 2025, down from Sh250.6 billion ($1.9 billion) in 2024. This represents a 15.8 percent drop in the value of transactions.
The decline in transactions was largely due to decreased business activities in correspondent banking, specialised finance, and project financing. In correspondent banking, transactions fell to Sh24.7 billion from Sh66.8 billion in 2024. Specialised finance deals declined from Sh54.4 billion to Sh4.9 billion, while project financing deals dropped to zero from Sh19.2 billion in 2024.
Despite the decline in some areas, the representative offices saw growth in other sectors. Property financing transactions recorded a sharp jump from Sh6.6 billion in 2024 to Sh69 billion last year. Syndicated finance deals grew from Sh18.3 billion to Sh21 billion, while trade finance deals rose from Sh85.3 billion to Sh91.3 billion, making it the most active line of business for the offices for a second straight year.
The representative offices are barred from conducting primary banking business such as deposit taking and lending. Instead, they carry out research, marketing, and liaison roles on behalf of their parent banks. They help their parent banks develop products and services tailored to the external market and provide early insights on opportunities and risks.
The CBK has revised downwards the 2024 transaction value in its latest supervision report. The central bank previously reported the figure at $2.9 billion in its prior publication. According to the CBK, all the representative offices operated in compliance with the applicable regulatory requirements during the year with no supervisory concerns arising.
Several foreign lenders have representative offices in Kenya, including the Bank of China, JPMorgan Chase, and South Africa's FirstRand Bank and Nedbank. Others include India's HDFC Bank, Mauritius Commercial Bank, Cooperative Rabobank of the Netherlands, Société Générale of France, and Banque Misr of Egypt. Nedbank is set to establish a full commercial banking presence in Kenya once it completes the acquisition of a 66 percent stake in NCBA Group.
There have been changes in the representative office landscape in Kenya. JPMorgan Chase Bank was awarded its representative office licence in October 2024, while Bank of Kigali closed its office in April 2024 after 11 years of operation. In May 2025, Bank Al-Habib Ltd (BAHL) of Pakistan closed its representative office in Kenya, citing a broader global restructuring initiative.
Key points
- Representative offices of foreign banks in Kenya recorded a 15.8% drop in transactions to Sh210.9 billion in 2025.
- The decline in transactions was largely due to decreased business activities in correspondent banking, specialised finance, and project financing.
- Trade finance deals rose from Sh85.3 billion to Sh91.3 billion, making it the most active line of business for the offices for a second straight year.
