The Co-operative Bank of Kenya open a commanding lead to become the most valuable lender on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE).
Co-op Bank’s stock was unchanged earlier this week at Sh11.85, giving it a market capitalisation of Sh69.5billion.
Effectively, Co-op Bank overtook the Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) whose share price fell 4.78 per cent on Thursday September 28, 2023 to close at a new 52-week low of Sh20.9, assigning it a market value of Sh67.1 billion.
Equity Group stood at Sh135.6 billion after losing Sh34.3 billion over the review period.
Co-op Bank overtook KCB for the first time, opening a gap of Sh2.3billion.
KCB’s share price fall gained pace in recent weeks after it reported lower earnings and a surge in provisions for loan defaults in the half year ended June.
At the start of the year, KCB’s market value was ahead of Co-op Bank by Sh52.2 billion.
KCB’s relegation to third place came after it shed Sh56 billion in paper wealth since the first trade of the year.
Over the same period, Co-op Bank has lost only Sh1.4 billion. The bank has one of the lowest share price volatility among the country’s publicly-traded lenders.
The second-place rank is likely to remain in contention as observers watch the evolution of the performance of the two lenders in the next few quarters.
Their rivalry is among the upheavals in the league table of Kenya’s listed banks.
Standard Chartered Bank Kenya has also closed in on NCBA Group with their market capitalisation standing at Sh61.8 billion and Sh62.1 billion respectively as of Thursday.
StanChart has grown its market value by Sh7 billion since the start of the year while NCBA has lost Sh2 billion over the same period, leading to the convergence.
