Bank of china to open office in Kenya

The Central Bank of Kenya has licensed the Bank of China (BOC) to open a representative office in the country, a move linked towards a full operation in East Africa region.

BOC becomes the fifth foreign bank in the country to be allowed to establish a marketing and liaison office in Kenya.

According to Reuters, foreign lenders have been looking to set up operations in Kenya where collective industry profit jumped 20.4% last year to Sh 89.3 billion ($1.07 billion).

BOC, in which the Chinese Sovereign Wealth Fund holds a substantial stake, is based in Beijing and focuses on corporate and personal banking as well as investment banking.

This comes after other Chinese organizations set base in the capital with Pay TV Company StarTimes Media setting last month and state broadcaster CCTV last year.