BY BOY MATUMBAI
The Co-operative Bank of Kenya has placed Kenya on the global financial map with the internationally acclaimed Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI), adding the top lender to the coveted ranks of the Frontiers Index Small Cap Index.
More significantly, Co-op Bank, alongside the local chapter of the British African Tobacco (BAT), carried Kenya’s flag high, being the sole African country that produced corperate organisations on the index that lists preeminent blue-chip listed stocks from select frontier markets of Asia, Middle East, parts of Europe and Africa.
The phenomenal inclusion in the index raises the visibility of a listed company among potential investors keen on latching onto opportunity in frontier markets.
The MSCI Frontier Markets Indexes are an embodiment of large, mid-sized capitalisation establishments and offer a broad representation of the equity opportunity set while taking investment requirements into consideration within each Frontier Market.
So far, 32 countries are classified by MSCI as Frontier markets. 23 of these fall in the category of MSCI Frontier Markets Index. MSCI’s client portfolio includes the who-is-who in the banking industry, asset managers and wealth managers across the globe.
It provides a broad-based solutions model that cuts across risk management, portfolio management, managed solutions, regulatory solutions and fixed income analytics.
Aside, MSCI is renowned in real estate and factor investing solutions, for over four decades now providing global investors with research-based tools and services including but not limited to data and regulatory reporting.
Co-op Bank’s latest feat on the international scene follows a streak of high profile accomplishments in the recent years that continue to tag Kenya along the global financial market.
In 2015, for instance, the bank scooped the esteemed Bank of the Year Financial Inclusion Award under the auspices of the London-based Financial Times, navigating through a stiff challenge from over 50 other entries from all over the world.
Earlier in 2014, Co-op Bank received the VISA Co-brand Championship Award, not to mention two MoneyGram awards the bank scooped for turning out tops in the Best Receiving Agent and Best Agent Marketing Investment categories.
The bank also ran away with twin honours in the Best Bank in Retail Banking and Best Bank in Microfinance categories during the 2014 East African Banking Awards gala outing.
Co-op Bank would in the same year be recognized by the International Banker Magazine as the Best Innovation in Retail Banking outfit in the magazine’s 2014 Africa and Middle East Banking Awards.
Co-op Bank’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr Gideon Muriuki, was in 2014 voted the Bank CEO of the Year in Africa, a feat largely attributable to his demonstrating remarkable foresight in safeguarding the bank’s identity in its beyond the borders expansionist tendencies.
Other notable accomplishments include its recognition as the Most Green Bank in 2013, Bank of the Year in Kenya and Best Company in Corporate Governance in 2011.
