Ethiopia approves Nigeria’s United Capital for first foreign investment banking licence under financial sector liberalisation push.

A Structural Shift in Financial Market Access

On June 9, 2026, Ethiopia granted its first foreign investment banking licence to a Nigerian financial group, marking a key milestone in the gradual opening of one of Africa’s most tightly controlled financial systems.

The licence was issued by the Ethiopian Capital Market Authority to a subsidiary of United Capital Group, allowing the firm to operate as a full Capital Market Service Provider under Ethiopian regulatory oversight.

The approval effectively gives the Nigerian financial services group entry into Ethiopia’s emerging investment banking sector, positioning it among the first foreign participants in a market that has historically been state-dominated.

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Ethiopia’s Controlled Financial Liberalisation Strategy

The decision reflects a broader structural reform agenda under Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who has gradually opened strategic sectors of the economy since 2018.

Key sectors targeted for liberalisation include:

• telecommunications
• banking
• capital markets
• logistics and infrastructure

The objective is to attract long-term foreign capital while maintaining state oversight over systemic financial institutions.

The entry of United Capital signals that Ethiopia’s capital markets are moving from policy design phase to operational liberalisation phase.

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Investment Banking Sector Still in Early Formation

The Ethiopian Capital Market Authority confirmed that United Capital Financial Services Plc will join six locally licensed investment banks operating under the country’s developing capital market framework.

This places Ethiopia’s investment banking ecosystem at an early but accelerating stage of development, with limited competition but high regulatory control.

Unlike mature African financial hubs such as Nigeria’s capital markets or South Africa’s Johannesburg exchange system, Ethiopia’s system remains:

• structurally shallow
• institutionally concentrated
• regulatory-led in expansion

This creates a first-mover advantage for early entrants.

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Why United Capital’s Entry Matters

The entry of a Nigerian institution into Ethiopia’s investment banking sector is strategically significant.

United Capital Financial Services Plc is part of a broader West African financial ecosystem that has developed deep expertise in:

• debt capital markets
• structured finance
• asset management
• sovereign advisory services

Its expansion into Ethiopia signals the beginning of regional export of investment banking expertise within Africa, rather than reliance on Western financial institutions.

This is part of a wider trend where African financial groups are increasingly cross-expanding into frontier markets ahead of global banks.

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Ethiopia’s Capital Market Opening Logic

Ethiopia’s liberalisation strategy is not uniform across sectors.

Instead, it is being executed in a sequenced financial opening model, where:

• strategic sectors remain state-controlled
• but capital markets are partially opened to foreign expertise
• regulatory oversight remains centralised

The Ethiopian Capital Market Authority has been positioned as the gatekeeper of this transition, balancing:

• foreign capital attraction
• systemic risk management
• domestic financial sector protection

This explains the cautious but progressive issuance of licences.

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Regional Competition for Financial Hub Status

Ethiopia’s gradual opening comes as East Africa becomes increasingly competitive for financial services expansion.

Regional peers such as Kenya and Rwanda have already positioned themselves as capital markets hubs with stronger institutional depth.

Ethiopia’s entry strategy differs in three ways:

• larger domestic economy but weaker financial depth
• slower but more controlled liberalisation
• state-led sequencing of reforms

This creates a unique hybrid model of controlled financial integration into global capital systems.

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Strategic Signal: Africa-to-Africa Financial Expansion

A key intelligence signal from this development is the rise of intra-African financial expansion.

Instead of relying solely on European or American investment banks, African institutions are now:

• entering new jurisdictions
• exporting financial expertise
• competing for frontier market advisory mandates

This reduces dependency on external capital intermediaries and strengthens regional financial integration.

United Capital’s licence in Ethiopia represents a practical case of this shift.

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Market Implications: First-Mover Advantage Phase

Ethiopia’s investment banking sector is still in early formation, meaning:

• pricing models are still evolving
• deal flow is limited but expanding
• regulatory frameworks are still being tested

This creates a classic first-mover advantage environment, where early entrants can establish:

• advisory dominance
• client relationships
• infrastructure financing pipelines
• sovereign engagement roles

Over time, this could become a multi-billion-dollar advisory and capital markets ecosystem.

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Intelligence Takeaway: Controlled Financial Opening

Ethiopia’s licensing decision signals more than regulatory approval.

It reflects a broader structural shift toward controlled financial liberalisation, where:

• foreign expertise is welcomed selectively
• capital markets are opened incrementally
• regulatory oversight remains central
• and domestic institutions retain strategic protection

For African financial groups like United Capital, this marks the beginning of a new phase:

expansion not into Western markets, but into Africa’s underdeveloped capital systems.

The long-term implication is clear:

Africa’s financial integration is increasingly being driven from within the continent, not imposed from outside it.

Standard Chartered says reforms are attracting Gulf capital, hedge funds and export financiers back to Africa’s key economies.

A Shift From Aid-Driven Finance to Investment Flows

Africa’s financing landscape is undergoing a structural shift that leading lenders say is beginning to reshape capital allocation across the continent.

According to senior executives at Standard Chartered, years of macroeconomic reforms across key African economies are gradually restoring investor appetite after a prolonged post-pandemic risk-off period.

The London-based lender, which has one of the most extensive cross-border banking footprints in Africa, says it is now observing a measurable return of global capital into markets that had been largely avoided during the 2020–2023 period of volatility.

These flows are no longer limited to concessional funding. Instead, they now include export credit agencies, Gulf sovereign investors, hedge funds and global asset managers repositioning into selected African markets.

This marks a shift from emergency financing toward structured investment-led capital deployment.

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Standard Chartered Positions Itself at the Centre of Flows

Few international banks are as structurally embedded in African capital flows as Standard Chartered.

The bank operates across major markets including Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Uganda, Zambia, Egypt and South Africa, positioning it at the intersection of sovereign financing, trade flows and infrastructure investment.

This positioning gives the lender early visibility into capital rotation trends long before they appear in macroeconomic datasets.

Speaking to Reuters, Dalu Ajene, Chief Executive and Head of Coverage for Africa at Standard Chartered, said investor sentiment has materially shifted since the immediate post-pandemic period.

“The financial challenges after the COVID-19 pandemic were quite deep, and hence there was a risk-off mindset,” Ajene said.

He added that the market environment has now changed:

“It’s now attracting both concessionary funding, but also real money investors… looking at Africa in a much more serious way than they otherwise would have three years ago when a lot of African balance sheets were in a mess.”

This suggests a transition from defensive capital preservation to selective risk re-entry.

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Nigeria Becomes the Reform Benchmark Case

Among African economies, Nigeria has emerged as the most closely watched reform laboratory.

The removal of fuel subsidies, combined with foreign exchange market adjustments, has fundamentally altered fiscal dynamics in Africa’s largest economy.

Although these reforms have created short-term inflationary pressure and household cost shocks, investors are increasingly interpreting them as signals of policy correction and fiscal discipline.

Standard Chartered views this shift as critical because it changes how sovereign risk is priced in international markets.

In effect, Nigeria has moved from being viewed as a structurally constrained economy to a reform-sensitive re-rating candidate.

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Gulf Capital Is Emerging as a Structural Force

One of the most significant changes identified by Standard Chartered is the growing role of Gulf sovereign capital.

The bank expects investment flows from the UAE and broader Gulf region to expand materially as new bilateral frameworks take effect.

Countries such as Kenya, Nigeria, Morocco and Mauritius have signed economic partnership agreements that are designed to formalise long-term investment pipelines.

According to Ajene, these frameworks could significantly scale up deal sizes:

“Once you have the cooperation frameworks, then you can now start seeing the kind of chunky investments that matter.”

He noted that future transactions could move beyond the traditional $100 million bracket, enabling multi-sector sovereign-scale investments.

Key target sectors include:

• Energy infrastructure
• Mining and critical minerals
• Food security systems
• Ports and logistics corridors
• Renewable energy platforms

This signals a transition from fragmented capital deployment to large-scale structured investment corridors.

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Institutional Investors Return to African Debt

Beyond sovereign capital, Standard Chartered is also observing a return of institutional investors into African fixed income markets.

Hedge funds and asset managers are gradually rebuilding positions in local-currency sovereign debt markets after exiting during the height of global tightening cycles.

Countries attracting renewed interest include:

• Egypt
• Ghana
• Uganda
• Zambia

This matters because institutional capital is fundamentally different from aid or emergency financing.

It is driven by:

• Yield expectations
• Currency stability
• Policy credibility
• Liquidity conditions

Its return signals that African markets are being re-integrated into global risk frameworks, rather than treated as frontier outliers.

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Export Credit Agencies Become Catalysts

Development finance institutions and export credit agencies are also playing a catalytic role in unlocking larger private flows.

Ajene cited UK Export Finance support for a $1 billion port rehabilitation project in Lagos as an example of how blended finance structures are evolving.

In this model, public or quasi-public capital does not replace private investment. Instead, it de-risks projects to enable commercial participation.

This structure is becoming increasingly important as global aid budgets face structural pressure from domestic fiscal constraints in advanced economies.

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The Debate Over Structured Sovereign Instruments

Standard Chartered has also defended the use of structured financing tools such as Total Return Swaps (TRS), which have been deployed by governments including Angola, Nigeria and Senegal.

These instruments have faced scrutiny from institutions such as the IMF over transparency concerns.

However, Ajene rejected the criticism, arguing:

“It’s actually unfair to say they’re not transparent, and I think it’s also unfair to classify them as more or less risky.”

He said such instruments provide flexibility during periods when traditional capital markets are constrained or closed.

This highlights a broader reality: African sovereigns are increasingly relying on non-traditional financing architectures to bridge liquidity gaps.

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Intelligence Takeaway: A New Capital Order Emerging

Standard Chartered’s assessment points to a deeper structural shift in Africa’s financing model.

The continent is moving away from:

• Aid-dependent financing
• Crisis-driven liquidity support
• Fragmented bilateral funding

And toward:

• Sovereign wealth capital
• Institutional debt markets
• Export credit-driven infrastructure funding
• Structured Gulf-Africa investment corridors

The bank’s positioning is strategic. It sits at the centre of these flows, connecting African sovereign demand with global liquidity pools.

The key question now is not whether capital is returning to Africa.

It is whether reform momentum in key economies can be sustained long enough to lock in this emerging multi-trillion-dollar reallocation cycle of global capital toward Africa.

Standard Chartered Kenya shifts to negotiated settlements over litigation to resolve legacy disputes and improve credit risk efficiency.

Kenya’s Credit Enforcement Model Is Shifting Quietly

Kenya’s banking sector is undergoing a structural change in how credit disputes are resolved. The shift is increasingly moving away from courtroom litigation toward negotiated settlements between banks and borrowers.

At the centre of this transition is Standard Chartered Kenya, which has explicitly adopted private treaty settlements as a core credit risk management strategy rather than relying on judicial enforcement.

This is not a reactive measure. It is a long-running strategic position that the bank says it has maintained for more than a decade.

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Negotiation Replaces Litigation as Primary Recovery Tool

Standard Chartered Kenya has increasingly prioritised structured agreements with borrowers facing financial distress, particularly in legacy credit exposures.

Speaking during a media briefing, Risk Officer James Mucheke confirmed the shift in approach:

“As much as possible, what we’re trying to do is look for private treaties with clients who get into trouble so that we avoid that route of going into the courts.”

He further noted that a large portion of the bank’s legal exposure is not new credit distress, but legacy disputes:

“A lot of the cases that we have are legacy cases, the ones that have been there for 20 or 30 years.”

This highlights a key structural issue in Kenya’s credit system: dispute resolution timelines often extend far beyond normal credit cycles.

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Credit Risk Strategy Linked to Portfolio Stability

The bank links this approach directly to credit risk performance.

Standard Chartered reports a non-performing loan ratio of approximately 5.2%, which it identifies as one of the lowest in the sector.

The implication is that negotiated settlements are not just a legal convenience tool, but part of a broader credit risk containment framework.

By resolving disputes outside court, the bank reduces:

• legal cost accumulation
• provisioning uncertainty
• capital lock-up duration
• recovery timing volatility

In effect, litigation is being repositioned from a recovery mechanism to a contingency channel for unresolved disputes.

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CEO Signals Structural Legal System Constraint

The scale of legacy disputes also reflects systemic inefficiencies in Kenya’s judicial resolution framework for financial cases.

Chief Executive Officer Birju Sanghrajka highlighted the time distortion embedded in the system:

“The wheels of justice turn very slowly,” he said. “One case was 40 years old and another was almost 50 years old.”

He added that three major legacy disputes had been concluded over the past 18 months, underscoring both the backlog and the gradual clearing of historical exposures.

From a credit systems perspective, this creates a structural mismatch between:

• banking risk cycles (short to medium term)
• legal resolution cycles (multi-decade in extreme cases)

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Pension Case Highlights Long-Tail Credit Exposure

One of the most significant recent closures involved a pension dispute involving 629 former employees.

The case originated from a 1997 actuarial valuation that identified a surplus of KSh1.536 billion in the pension fund.

The Retirement Benefits Appeals Tribunal ruled that KSh1.1 billion be refunded to the pension scheme, along with recalculation of benefits and arrears dating back to 2009.

While the Supreme Court ultimately dismissed the bank’s appeal on jurisdictional grounds, the total estimated exposure is believed to exceed KSh7 billion ($54 million) once interest and adjustments are included.

The case illustrates a key systemic reality: credit-related legal exposure can persist across multiple economic cycles while remaining unresolved in court.

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Sector-Wide Shift Toward Private Credit Resolution

While Standard Chartered Kenya is among the clearest articulators of the strategy, the approach reflects a broader shift in Kenya’s banking system.

Traditionally, lenders relied heavily on courts for:

• loan enforcement
• collateral recovery
• dispute resolution

However, growing inefficiencies in judicial timelines have led to increased use of:

• private debt restructuring agreements
• negotiated asset sales
• bilateral settlement frameworks
• out-of-court compromise arrangements

This is gradually creating a parallel credit enforcement system outside formal litigation channels.

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Why Banks Are Moving Toward Private Settlements

The shift is driven by three structural pressures:

First, time inefficiency in courts reduces recovery value over long durations.
Second, capital remains tied up during litigation, affecting balance sheet flexibility.
Third, uncertainty in judicial outcomes increases provisioning risk.

Negotiated settlements solve all three by offering:

• faster resolution
• predictable recovery timelines
• reduced legal cost exposure

As a result, credit risk management is increasingly defined by recovery efficiency rather than legal victory.

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Implications for Kenya’s Credit System

If sustained, this shift could gradually reshape Kenya’s credit architecture in three ways.

First, litigation will become a secondary enforcement mechanism rather than the primary recovery route.

Second, private negotiation frameworks will become the dominant channel for resolving large distressed exposures.

Third, banks will increasingly treat legal systems as backstop enforcement structures, not operational recovery tools.

This does not reduce the importance of courts. Instead, it changes their position in the credit hierarchy.

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Intelligence Takeaway

Standard Chartered Kenya’s adoption of negotiated settlements reflects more than operational efficiency.

It signals a structural evolution in Kenya’s financial system where credit risk resolution is shifting away from judicial timelines and toward private, bank-led restructuring frameworks.

In this emerging model, the key performance metric is not legal success, but speed and certainty of recovery.

Ultimately, Kenya’s banking sector is moving toward a system where courts define legal boundaries, but credit outcomes are increasingly determined in negotiated settlement rooms rather than court rulings.

Bank of Uganda imposes cash withdrawal caps and cheque cuts, accelerating Uganda’s shift toward digital payments and formal finance rails.

Uganda Rebuilds Its Payment Architecture

Uganda is entering a structural shift in how money moves through its economy. The Bank of Uganda has introduced system-wide limits on over-the-counter cash withdrawals and sharply reduced interbank cheque thresholds, effective 1 January 2027.

Importantly, this is not a routine banking adjustment. Instead, it reflects a deeper redesign of the country’s payment system.

In simple terms, Uganda is moving from cash tolerance to payment steering.

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Cash Controls Introduce a New Liquidity Framework

The new rules create direct limits on how much cash can move through banking halls.

For individuals, daily withdrawals are capped at UGX 50 million ($13,245), while weekly limits are set at UGX 250 million ($66,225). At the same time, corporate accounts face higher thresholds of UGX 500 million ($132,450) per day and UGX 2.5 billion ($662,250) per week.

However, the structure is important. Electronic channels are fully exempt.

RTGS transfers, Electronic Funds Transfers (EFTs), and mobile money transactions remain unrestricted. As a result, the policy does not block liquidity. Instead, it redirects it.

Therefore, Uganda is not reducing money movement. It is reshaping how money moves.

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Cheque System Is Being Phased Down

In parallel, Uganda has reduced interbank cheque thresholds by 50% across five currencies.

• UGX cheques fall from 10 million to 5 million
• USD cheques drop from $2,750 to $1,375
• EUR cheques fall from €2,250 to €1,125
• GBP cheques decline from £2,200 to £1,100
• KES cheques drop from KSh300,000 to KSh150,000

These changes apply only to interbank clearing.

However, the signal is broader. Cheques are being pushed into low-value use cases.

Therefore, Uganda’s payment system is steadily removing mid-tier paper instruments from active circulation.

In effect, three layers are emerging:

• digital rails (dominant)
• limited cash (controlled)
• shrinking cheques (secondary)

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Digital Infrastructure Becomes the Core System

Uganda’s reforms build on already strong digital growth.

Electronic payments reached UGX 326.3 trillion ($86.4 billion) in 2025. In addition, transaction volumes rose more than 20%, reaching 8.4 billion transactions.

Meanwhile, mobile money adoption has reached scale. There are now 36.7 million active users supported by more than one million agents nationwide.

This matters for one key reason.

Digital payments are no longer emerging tools. Instead, they are already the dominant settlement layer in Uganda’s economy.

Therefore, the central bank’s policy does not introduce digital payments. It consolidates them.

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Telecom Operators Gain Structural Advantage

As cash usage becomes constrained, mobile money operators are gaining structural importance.

Platforms operated by MTN Uganda and Airtel Uganda sit directly inside this transition.

In particular, high-volume cash users—such as traders, SMEs, and cross-border operators—are expected to shift toward mobile money rails.

As a result, telecom firms are no longer just service providers. They are becoming core financial infrastructure nodes.

This shift also changes competitive dynamics in Uganda’s financial system. Banks increasingly depend on telecom rails for retail transaction flow, while telecoms gain more control over payment liquidity.

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Policy Design Shows a Behavioral Strategy

The structure of the reforms reveals a clear policy logic.

First, cash is limited. Second, digital systems are unrestricted. Third, cheques are compressed.

Taken together, this creates a directional system.

However, the goal is not prohibition. Instead, it is behavioral migration.

In other words, users are not forced out of cash. They are economically encouraged to move away from it.

This approach reflects a broader trend in emerging markets where regulators use system design—not bans—to shape financial behavior.

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A Strategic Shift From Incentives to Enforcement

Uganda’s National E-Payments Strategy 2021–2026 focused on infrastructure building and voluntary adoption.

Now, the next phase is different.

The strategy is shifting from:

• building systems → enforcing usage
• promoting adoption → steering behavior
• optional digitalization → structural digital dominance

This transition is supported by scale data:

• UGX 326.3 trillion in digital transactions
• 8.4 billion transaction volumes
• 36.7 million mobile money users

Therefore, Uganda is moving past adoption stage and entering system consolidation stage.

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Policy Friction: Pricing vs Adoption

However, a contradiction remains in the system.

While digital payments are being promoted structurally, transaction costs remain relatively high for low-income users.

A proposed reduction in mobile money excise duty from 0.5% to 0.25% was rejected in the 2026/27 budget cycle.

As a result, users face a dual pressure:

• higher friction in digital transactions
• tighter limits on cash usage

This creates a policy tension.

Therefore, adoption speed may depend not only on regulation, but also on affordability.

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Informal Economy Remains the Key Constraint

Despite strong digital growth, cash remains deeply embedded in Uganda’s real economy.

Agriculture, artisanal mining, and informal trade continue to rely heavily on physical cash flows.

However, the central bank has introduced discretionary waivers for supervised financial institutions. These waivers are conditional and require enhanced due diligence.

This structure effectively creates a dual-track system:

• regulated digital economy
• monitored cash economy

Therefore, Uganda is not eliminating cash. It is reorganizing its role.

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Regional Implications for East Africa

Uganda’s model is significant for regional policy design.

Across East Africa, most regulators have focused on incentives and infrastructure expansion. Uganda is now adding direct cash constraints to accelerate digital migration.

This makes the policy structurally different.

If successful, it could influence future frameworks in Kenya, Tanzania, and Rwanda, especially in areas such as:

• cash management policy
• digital tax enforcement
• payment system hierarchy design

Therefore, Uganda is effectively testing a new regulatory model for emerging-market payment systems.

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Intelligence Takeaway

Uganda’s cash withdrawal limits and cheque reductions represent more than payment reform.

They signal a structural redesign of the financial system.

Instead of encouraging digital adoption through incentives alone, the country is now actively shaping transaction behavior through system constraints.

As a result, Uganda is entering a new phase where:

• cash is constrained
• digital rails are dominant
• cheques are marginal

Ultimately, the policy marks a shift from financial inclusion strategy to financial system engineering.

And in that shift, Uganda is positioning itself as one of the most intervention-driven digital payment environments in Africa’s current monetary evolution cycle.

Stanbic exceeded its sustainable finance target by 48%, deploying Sh133bn ($1.03bn) across Kenya and South Sudan in 2025.

Sustainable Finance Moves to the Centre of African Banking

For decades, African banks were primarily judged by loan growth, profitability and balance-sheet strength. Today, however, a new measure of performance is emerging: the ability to finance economic growth while supporting climate resilience, financial inclusion and sustainable development.

That shift is becoming increasingly visible at Stanbic Holdings Plc, which surpassed its sustainable trade finance target in 2025 by deploying Sh133 billion ($1.03 billion) across Kenya and South Sudan.

The figure exceeded the lender’s original target of Sh90 billion ($696 million) by nearly 48 per cent, underscoring the growing importance of sustainable finance as a strategic pillar within East Africa’s banking sector.

Rather than treating sustainability as a compliance requirement, Stanbic is positioning it as a core business model capable of generating both financial returns and measurable development impact.

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Why the Numbers Matter Beyond Banking

The significance of the Sh133 billion deployment extends beyond the banking sector.

Across Africa, governments face mounting pressure to finance energy transition projects, climate adaptation programmes, affordable housing and food security initiatives while dealing with fiscal constraints and rising debt burdens.

Banks are increasingly being called upon to bridge this financing gap.

Stanbic’s performance suggests sustainable finance is becoming one of the most effective channels through which private capital can support long-term economic development.

The trend mirrors a broader global movement in which investors are directing capital toward institutions that demonstrate measurable environmental and social outcomes alongside profitability.

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Oigara’s Strategic Shift Towards Resilience

Stanbic Holdings Chief Executive Officer Joshua Oigara says the bank deliberately repositioned its lending portfolio to support sectors capable of strengthening long-term economic resilience.

“We made a deliberate strategic shift, re-orienting our portfolio toward sectors and segments that foster long-term national resilience, including green financing.”

He added:

“We have embedded sustainability into the fabric of our daily decision-making, ensuring that performance is measured against clear targets and aligned to our strategic direction.”

Those remarks reflect a growing shift across African financial institutions where sustainability is increasingly viewed as a source of competitive advantage rather than a reporting obligation.

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Green Buildings and Solar Projects Attract Capital

A review of the lender’s sustainability performance reveals where capital is flowing.

Stanbic advanced Sh4.5 billion ($34.8 million) in green building loans and an additional Sh273 million ($2.1 million) toward solar energy projects.

These investments support cleaner energy systems and environmentally efficient infrastructure while helping businesses lower operating costs and reduce carbon emissions.

The investments also align with global sustainability goals promoted by organizations such as United Nations and the broader climate-finance agenda.

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SMEs Remain the Backbone of the Strategy

Small and medium-sized enterprises continue to occupy a central position in Stanbic’s sustainability framework.

Through the Stanbic Foundation, the lender provided Sh105.73 million ($817,000) in grants and catalytic funding aimed at helping micro, small and medium-sized enterprises expand operations and improve resilience.

Across Africa, SMEs account for the majority of business activity and employment creation. However, access to affordable financing remains one of the biggest barriers to growth.

By directing capital toward this segment, Stanbic is strengthening a critical engine of economic development.

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Housing Finance Targets Kenya’s Supply Gap

The lender also expanded support for affordable housing, providing Sh1.8 billion ($13.9 million) in home financing during the year.

The move comes as Kenya continues to face a significant housing shortage driven by rapid urbanisation and population growth.

Affordable housing has become one of the country’s major economic priorities because of its links to construction activity, employment creation and improved living standards.

As a result, financing institutions are increasingly treating housing as both a commercial opportunity and a development priority.

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Climate-Smart Agriculture Gains Momentum

Agriculture remained another major focus area.

Stanbic advanced Sh2.5 billion ($19.3 million) in climate-smart agriculture financing, increasing agriculture’s share of the lender’s total loan book to 9.9 per cent.

The funding supported farmers adopting sustainable farming practices designed to improve productivity while protecting natural resources.

Given agriculture’s contribution to employment, exports and food security across East Africa, climate-smart financing is increasingly becoming a strategic investment category for lenders.

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Risk Screening Becomes a Competitive Advantage

An important but often overlooked aspect of sustainable finance is risk management.

According to Stanbic Chief Risk Officer Edwin Mucai, environmental and social screening now plays a central role in protecting the quality of the bank’s loan portfolio.

“Our environmental and social risk management framework, which mandates screening for all loans above $1 million, strengthens the quality and resilience of our loan portfolio.”

He added:

“It protects the bank and its clients from financing projects with material environmental and social vulnerabilities, helping us build a more resilient book that can withstand economic shocks.”

This approach reflects a growing trend among leading international lenders, where sustainability assessments are increasingly integrated into core credit-risk processes.

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Gender Inclusion Expands Economic Participation

The sustainability report also highlights progress in advancing gender inclusion.

Procurement spending directed to women-owned businesses rose to 15.53 per cent, while women accounted for 43 per cent of board representation.

In addition, Stanbic signed the UN Women’s Empowerment Principles, reinforcing its commitment to advancing gender equality throughout its operations and supply chain.

Meanwhile, the bank’s D.A.D.A platform has disbursed Sh49.5 billion ($383 million) to women entrepreneurs since inception and onboarded more than 112,640 women.

These figures illustrate how financial inclusion is increasingly becoming a measurable business outcome rather than a corporate responsibility initiative.

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Environmental Restoration Supports Long-Term Sustainability

Beyond financing, Stanbic intensified conservation efforts by planting more than 204,000 trees and restoring over 107 hectares of degraded land.

The restoration programme includes indigenous forests around Mount Kenya and mangrove ecosystems within the Sabaki Estuary.

Such projects are becoming increasingly important as financial institutions seek to align business growth with environmental stewardship.

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Intelligence Takeaway

Stanbic’s deployment of Sh133 billion ($1.03 billion) in sustainable finance signals a broader shift underway across African banking.

The lender’s performance suggests that future banking leadership may increasingly be defined not by the size of a balance sheet alone, but by the ability to finance climate resilience, inclusive growth and long-term economic transformation.

For East Africa, the message is becoming clearer: sustainable finance is evolving from a niche activity into a mainstream driver of investment, competitiveness and economic development.

Standard Chartered Kenya sees rising FX hedging demand as geopolitical tensions and USD safe-haven flows reshape currency risk strategy.

Currency Risk Returns as Global Volatility Reprices Africa’s FX Landscape

Foreign exchange markets across Africa are entering a renewed phase of sensitivity, as global geopolitical tensions and shifting capital flows push corporates and investors back into active currency risk management.

In Kenya, this shift is becoming increasingly visible within the banking system. Standard Chartered Kenya is reporting a marked rise in demand for foreign exchange hedging tools, reflecting a broader reassessment of risk exposure across import-dependent businesses, institutional investors, and multinational corporates operating in East Africa.

At the centre of this shift is a simple but powerful market dynamic: uncertainty is rising globally, and capital is once again seeking protection in the US dollar.

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Global Shock Cycles and the Return of the Dollar

According to market commentary from Standard Chartered Kenya’s Head of Markets, Moses Kiboi, recent geopolitical developments — particularly tensions in the Middle East — have reinforced a long-standing pattern in global finance.

During periods of stress, whether the Global Financial Crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, or current geopolitical disruptions, investors tend to move toward highly liquid safe-haven assets, especially the US dollar.

This recurring behavior has direct implications for Kenya’s financial markets, where many corporates hold dollar-linked obligations for trade, fuel imports, and external financing.

As a result, demand for FX protection instruments has accelerated in recent months, reversing a brief period of reduced hedging activity during exchange rate stability.

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Rising Demand for FX Hedging Instruments

Market participants in Kenya are increasingly engaging with structured foreign exchange solutions designed to stabilize future cash flows.

These include:

• Forward contracts for locking exchange rates
• Options strategies for flexible exposure control
• Structured derivatives for longer-term risk positioning

The shift reflects a more sophisticated approach to currency management, where businesses are no longer reacting to volatility but actively planning around it.

Importantly, this demand is not limited to large multinationals. Mid-sized importers and sector-specific firms — particularly in energy, manufacturing, and retail distribution — are also increasing their hedging activity.

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Stability Phase Ends as Risk Awareness Returns

Earlier in the year, relatively stable exchange rate conditions reduced immediate pressure on corporates to hedge aggressively. During that period, many firms scaled back active currency protection strategies.

However, this stability phase has now weakened.

Recent geopolitical shocks have reintroduced uncertainty into global trade and capital markets. Consequently, currency risk management has returned to the centre of corporate financial planning in Kenya.

In dollar terms, hedging decisions are increasingly being evaluated across exposure horizons ranging from one month to as long as two years. In local terms, this reflects how businesses are planning against volatility in the Kenyan shilling (KES) while maintaining dollar-linked obligations.

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USD Liquidity and Safe-Haven Behaviour

One of the key structural drivers behind this shift is global liquidity preference.

During periods of uncertainty, capital tends to concentrate in highly liquid markets. The US dollar continues to dominate this cycle due to its depth, convertibility, and role in global trade settlement.

This dynamic has a direct effect on emerging markets such as Kenya, where import pricing, debt servicing, and cross-border transactions are often dollar-denominated.

As a result, even moderate global shocks can quickly translate into local currency risk pressures.

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Corporate Strategy Shifts in Kenya’s FX Market

Within Kenya’s corporate sector, there is a visible shift from reactive currency management to structured risk strategy.

Businesses are now:

• Building FX risk into annual financial planning cycles
• Increasing treasury sophistication
• Using multi-layered hedging structures instead of single instruments
• Prioritizing execution certainty over speculative positioning

This evolution reflects a broader maturing of East Africa’s financial markets, where risk management is becoming a core operational function rather than a defensive response.

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Regional Spillover Across East Africa

Although Kenya is currently at the centre of this hedging cycle, similar patterns are emerging across East Africa.

Uganda, Tanzania, and Rwanda — economies with strong import dependence and external financing exposure — are also experiencing rising demand for FX protection tools.

However, Kenya’s deeper financial markets and more developed banking infrastructure position it as a regional pricing hub for FX risk products.

This gives institutions like Standard Chartered Kenya a structural advantage in structuring and distributing complex hedging solutions across the region.

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Structural Risk Remains the Core Constraint

Despite the growing sophistication of FX markets, several structural challenges continue to shape outcomes.

First, currency volatility remains closely tied to global commodity cycles, particularly oil prices. Second, external debt servicing obligations in US dollars create persistent demand pressure on local currencies. Third, global interest rate cycles continue to influence capital inflows and outflows.

Together, these factors ensure that FX risk will remain a structural feature of Kenya’s financial landscape rather than a temporary condition.

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Intelligence Takeaway

The rise in FX hedging demand at Standard Chartered Kenya signals more than a short-term response to geopolitical shocks.

It reflects a deeper structural shift in how African corporates and investors manage currency exposure in an increasingly uncertain global environment.

As the US dollar reasserts its safe-haven role, and as geopolitical risk cycles intensify, FX risk management is becoming a permanent pillar of corporate finance strategy across Kenya and the wider East African region.

In this evolving environment, financial institutions are not just intermediaries — they are becoming critical infrastructure in managing global volatility at a local level.