Nanyuki: SBM Bank Kenya has spread its wings to cover the Mt. Kenya region with the grand opening of its 34th branch in Nanyuki. The financial institution aims to claw the rich potential customers in the fields of businesses, farms, conservancies, pastoral communities, tourism, construction, and the residents in the expansive Laikipia County.
According to Kenya News Agency, the new branch, located at Peak Place Building in Nanyuki Town, is expected to strengthen access to credit, transactional banking, and tailored financial services in a region whose economy is driven by tourism, agriculture, horticulture, agribusiness, and a growing small and medium-sized enterprise sector. Speaking during the launch, Laikipia Governor Joshua Irungu emphasized the significant opportunities for private-sector investment in the area, particularly in agribusiness, tourism, real estate, and manufacturing.
Irungu invited businesses to explore the region’s opportunities, mentioning major wildlife conservancies, high-end tourism facilities, and horticulture exporters as key economic drivers. He expressed the County government’s readiness to partner with the private sector to stimulate growth and development.
SBM Bank highlighted the new branch’s role in addressing the longstanding gap in access to banking services within Laikipia County. The bank noted that businesses and residents previously had to travel outside the County for such services, which limited entrepreneurs’ access to credit and financial services despite the region’s economic contributions.
SBM Bank Kenya CEO Bhartesh Shah stated that Nanyuki is a strategic market for the bank’s growth plans, combining relationship banking with digital convenience. He emphasized the bank’s expansion strategy, backed by strong financial results and a robust balance sheet, to serve the region’s conservancies, exporters, SMEs, and farmers.
The branch opening follows SBM Bank’s strong financial results for the first half of 2026, with significant increases in profit, customer deposits, and asset quality. The Nanyuki branch marks SBM Bank Kenya’s continued expansion since entering the market in 2017, reflecting its strategy of increasing presence in emerging commercial hubs across the country.
