Kenya central bank to lift moratorium on new commercial bank licenses

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) will lift a decade-long moratorium on licensing new commercial banks on July 1, it said on Wednesday.

The prohibition was imposed in 2015 against a backdrop of governance, risk management and operational challenges, the central bank said in a statement.

"Since then, significant strides have been made in strengthening the legal and regulatory framework for Kenya's banking sector," the CBK said.

A tenfold increase in the minimum core capital requirements for commercial banks to 10-billion Kenyan shillings (R1.46bn), which was introduced last December, will further strengthen the sector, the bank said.