Firm eyes financial space to grow revenue

African Alliance Kenya Investment Bank is expanding its business scope to offering financial services.

The company which traditionally focused on offering brokering services in the Nairobi bourse said yesterday it would now shift its focus to the digital, treasury and asset management space. The company will venture into this new territory early next month.

The board said the move was necessitated by declining business at the Nairobi Securities Exchange and the need to capitalise on existing gaps in the market.

“The AAKIB Board, along with management, constantly reviews the business segments in which the Company operates and as a result of the structural decline in the agency trading model in both the local and global financial markets has decided to divest from its Stockbroking activities,” said the firm in a statement.

Other markets

The move comes just over a year after African Alliance, which has offices in other African countries, including Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana, and Mauritius, last year announced the closure of its Ugandan brokerage business, citing low market activity.

Last year, many brokerage companies at the Nairobi bourse registered a decline in brokering commissions as the economy took a nosedive.

AAKIB saw its commission drop from Sh84.2 million in 2018 to 42.7 million in June last year, according to its half-year results.

With the economy continuing to be ravaged by the pandemic, brokerage companies in the bourse have been forced to find other ways to remain afloat.

Earlier this month, ApexAfrica Capital and AIB brokering companies finalised their merger that will see former’s client accounts taken over by the latter.