End of an era as CFC brand paves way for Stanbic

CFC Stanbic Holdings has dropped its Kenyan identity on its brand, marking the end of a business reorganisation that started in 2009.

Previously operating as Credit and Finance Corporation (CFC), associated with former Attorney General Charles Njonjo, the financial services firm will now be known as Stanbic Holdings.

The changes in identity follow the November 2007 complex merger of CFC Bank and South Africa-owned Stanbic Bank.

CFC will be dropped from the banking and financial services subsidiaries, respectively, to trade as Stanbic Bank and Stanbic Financial Services. Company Secretary Lilian Mbindyo has called for an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders next month to approve of the change in company name.

“To approve a special resolution to change the company’s name from CFC Stanbic Bank Ltd to Stanbic Bank Kenya Ltd,” reads Ms Mbindyo’s notice to shareholders. Chief Executive Greg Brackenridge would also be expected to inform shareholders on the rebranding strategy of Kenya’s sixth largest lender. SA’s Standard Bank owns 60 per cent in CFC Stanbic Holdings, as at the end of 2015. It is unlikely that Standard Bank had increased its shareholding in the Kenyan-listed unit to justify the new identity, as acquisition of any more shares would require regulatory approval.

CFC was operating as a lender and had its shares listed at the Nairobi Securities Exchange, way before it acquired a commercial banking licence in 1995. And in 2004, CFC acquired the Kenyan insurance business from American Insurance Group (AIG) and rebranded CFC Life Assurance Ltd. Three years later, shareholders approved the merger of CFC Group and Stanbic Bank to form CFC Stanbic Holdings. In the complex deal, CFC acquired Stanbic Bank and gave the South African 60 per cent of the shares in the new firm.

CFC returned its banking licence to the Central Bank of Kenya, while the merged business operated using the permit held by Stanbic Bank. In 2009, the banking and insurance businesses were demerged to form two separate firms – both listed at the NSE. Shareholders in the original were granted shares in the insurance company that was renamed Liberty Holdings as a dividend and the stock listed to the bourse through introduction, in 2011.