TALKING POINT
DO KENYAN
BANKS NEED A
TRUMP CARD?
By Boniface Ngahu
L
ast time we looked at whether
marketing needs a Trump card
to make “Make Marketing
Great Again”. This time we give
a short to another industry that
seems to be at a break out point.
During such a point the industry is
shaken and some players get rattled
while others thrive. Tables in such
industries turn, where new kids
come into the block or old dogs start
barking again.
‘‘ You have to do
something for change
to happen and even
the bible says ask
and you shall be
given, knock and the
door will be opened.
We are asking for
change in the banking
industry especially in
how banks treat the
customers.’’
54 MAL 17/17 ISSUE
Yes we can
I want to quote someone who is not
so important who said that; “if you
want change you have to ask for it”.
His name was Kamau, a matatu tout
on route 58 in Nairobi, Kenya. Here
we are saying that in life and in
business you are the change that you
have been waiting for.
You have to do something for
change to happen and even the
bible says ask and you shall be given,
knock and the door will be opened.
We are asking for change in the
banking industry especially in how
banks treat the customers.
Kenya Banking History
Our banking history can trace its
root back to the 19th century, when
the Imperial British East Africa
Company and the National Bank
of India joined forces with Smith,
Mackenzie, and Co. to act as a proxy
on the Eastern African shores. In
the following years, the IBEAC
was replaced with the East African
protectorate and the National Bank
of India then formed its own branch
in Mombasa.
Over the next century, the then
East African protectorate, which we
now know as Kenya, experienced
expeditious growth propelled by the
change from exclusively endowing
international trade, to investing
in local settler communities and
traders.
The banking sector morphed, but
one problem stayed: most Kenyans
still did not have adequate access
to banking services. The reason for
low access to finance was because
banks had an attitude that made
them focus on high end individuals
leaving out the mass market. Some
banks like the blue ones closed
accounts that had a balance below
certain thresh holds. Such banks
were also known to be too clean that
a small farmer in a small town would
feel intimidated walking in.
In the 90s the ATM disrupted the
market of peculiar people
The Standard Chartered Bank
was the first to introduce ATMs.
I remember it was so difficult for
people to believe that you can get
money from a hole in the wall.
We did a lot of research to inform