Somalia lender acquires majority stake in troubled First Community Bank

First community bank, Kimathi branch. [File, Standard]

Somalia's Premier Bank has bought a majority stake in troubled Kenyan lender First Community Bank - the country's first Sharia-compliant bank.

The rare deal whose financial details were not disclosed comes as a relief for the Kenyan bank, which nearly collapsed earlier this year after suffering a customer run linked to a liquidity crisis.