financial services founded 1983 headquarters nairobi kenya key people teresa mutegi chairman tim gitonga managing director 1 revenue aftertax us 643 500 kes 55.65 million 2013 total assets us 180 millions kes 15.562 billion 2013 slogan banking on excellence website homepage spire bank formerly known as equatorial commercial bank ecb is a commercial bank in kenya the largest economy in the east african community . it is licensed by the central bank of kenya the central bank and national banking regulator . 2 contents 1 overview 2 history 3 ownership 4 branch network 5 see also 6 references 7 external links overview edit the bank is a medium sized financial institution in kenya serving corporate clients small and medium enterprises and individuals . as of december 2013 update the bank s total assets were valued at about us 180 million kes 15.562 billion with shareholders equity valued at about us 16 million kes 1.371 billion . 3 at that time the bank was ranked number 27 by assets out of 43 banks licensed in kenya . 4 the company has a 20 % investment in equatorial investment bank limited and 23.86 % in fidelity shield insurance company limited which have been accounted for as associate companies in the consolidated financial statements . history edit established as an equatorial finance company in 1983 due to change in regulation equatorial finance company was converted to equatorial commercial bank limited and commenced operations as a fully fledged commercial bank in june 1995 . 5 in june 2010 equatorial commercial bank ecb merged with southern credit banking corporation scbc creating a new enlarged bank under the equatorial commercial bank brand . 6 the merger was aimed at enabling the banks meet the central bank of kenya requirement for commercial banks shore up their core capital to at least kes 1 billion approximately us 12 million . 7 the equatorial commercial bank southern credit banking corporation merger transaction was structured in the following four interlinked phases ecb implemented a kes 264 million approximately us 3.1 million rights issue to increase its authorized and issued share capital in order to meet the capital adequacy requirements of the merged bank . by way of a share swap agreement ecb acquired the full shareholding in scbc in exchange for its own shares thereby making scbc a wholly owned subsidiary of ecb . scbc shareholders received 11.25 % of the issued share capital of ecb . ecb now the parent company and scbc the subsidiary then executed an asset and portfolio business agreement to transfer all of ecb s banking business assets and liabilities to scbc who paid a fair consideration through the creation of new shares . scbc the subsidiary adopted the name equatorial commercial bank limited and retained the joint banking business while the former ecb the parent returned its banking licence to the central bank of kenya for cancellation and changed its name to equatorial holding limited to become a non operating holding company of the merged bank . all future subsidiaries and associate companies would be held by equatorial holding limited . the merger transaction consideration was entirely satisfied by the issue of shares and there was no cash transaction . 8 in september 2014 mwalimu cooperative savings & credit society limited kenya s largest sacco by assets made a bid to acquire 51 % shareholding in equatorial commercial bank in a deal valued at kes 1.7 billion approximately usd 18 million . 9 this move was in line with the strategic objective of the society of expanding business opportunities . the acquisition was to enable the sacco to collect deposits from beyond its membership access funds at lower rates venture into trade finance and offer its members atm services . the deal was concluded at the end of 2014 and in 2015 the sacco acquired another 24 percent shareholding bringing its ownership to 75 percent . 10 in july 2016 the bank was rebranded to spire bank . 11 ownership edit prior to december 2014 as of august 2014 update naushad merali of sameer group owned 85 % of the bank s stock with other entities owning the remaining 15 % . 12 in order to comply with central bank of kenya directives the bank began exploring ways to sell shares to outside investors and reduce the shareholding of the largest individual shareholder to 25 % or less . 13 the shareholding in the bank stock as at march 2016 is depicted in the table below 14 spire bank stock ownership rank name of owner percentage ownership 1 mwalimu national holdings 15 75.0 2 structured investment vehicle 21.0 10 3 minority shareholders 4.0 total 100.00 branch network edit as of august 2014 update the bank operates a network of branches at the following locations 16 waiyaki way branch equatorial fidelity centre waiyaki way nairobi chester house branch ground floor chester house koinange street nairobi westlands branch ground floor westlands mall westlands nairobi hurlingham branch priory place argwings kodhek road nairobi mombasa road branch sameer business park mombasa road nairobi industrial area branch avon centre enterprise road nairobi moi avenue branch equatorial commercial bank building moi avenue mombasa nyali branch nyali cinemax complex kongowea road nyali kisumu branch harley s house oginga odinga street kisumu kakamega branch jubilee ironmongers building canon awori road kakamega eldoret branch zion mall uganda road eldoret nakuru branch apple house nakuru nairobi highway nakuru see also edit list of banks in kenya central bank of kenya economy of kenya sameer group references edit juma victor 7 january 2016 . equatorial bank hires ex hf executive gitonga for top job . business daily africa . nairobi . retrieved 7 january 2016 . cbk . directory of commercial banks and mortgage finance companies pdf . central bank of kenya cbk . retrieved 11 august 2014 . ecb . 26 march 2014 . audited 31 december 2013 annual report and financial statements pdf . equatorial commercial bank ecb . retrieved 11 august 2014 . bankelele . 28 april 2014 . kenya bank rankings by assets in 2013 . bankelele.co.ke . retrieved 11 august 2014 . cbk . commercial banks & mortgage finance companies conversions from 1994 until 2007 . central bank of kenya cbk . retrieved 11 august 2014 . cbk . central bank of kenya bank supervision mergers and acquisitions from 1989 until 2010 . central bank of kenya cbk . retrieved 11 august 2014 . michira moses 2 june 2010 . equatorial and southern credit merger gets nod . business daily africa nairobi . retrieved 11 august 2014 . ombok eric 31 may 2010 . kenya s equatorial commercial southern credit banks complete their merger . bloomberg news 2014 bloomberg l.p. retrieved 11 august 2014 . ngigi george 4 december 2014 . sasra to approve mwalimu sacco bid to acquire ecb . business daily africa . nairobi . retrieved 22 january 2015 . a b munaita peter 21 november 2015 . kenyan teachers to inject 3.75 m more into ecb . the eastafrican . nairobi . retrieved 17 march 2016 . ngigi george 5 july 2016 . equatorial commercial bank rebrands to spire bank . business daily africa . nairobi . retrieved 5 july 2016 . fayo galgallo 16 june 2013 . merali accused of governance flaws at equatorial commercial bank . business daily africa . retrieved 11 august 2014 . ngigi george 28 april 2013 . equatorial bank in talks for sale of ksh1 .3 billion us 15 million stake . business daily africa . nairobi . retrieved 11 august 2014 . herbling david 17 march 2016 . teachers to pay more to keep ecb stake in sh1bn cash call . business daily africa . nairobi . retrieved 17 march 2016 . bodo george 26 march 2015 . mwalimu sacco needs over ksh2 billion to turn around ecb . business daily africa . nairobi . retrieved 26 march 2015 . ecb . the branches of equatorial commercial bank . equatorial commercial bank ecb . retrieved 11 august 2014 . external links edit spire bank premium slash signals more rate reductions website of spire bank website of central bank of kenya list of bank mergers in kenya since 1989 v t e banks of kenya central bank central bank of kenya commercial bank african banking corporation bank of africa barclays bank bank of baroda bank of india cfc stanbic bank chase bank citibank na kenya commercial bank of africa consolidated bank of kenya cooperative bank of kenya credit bank development bank of kenya diamond trust bank east african development bank ecobank kenya equity bank family bank fidelitybank first community bank giro commercial bank guaranty trust bank kenya guardian bank gulf african bank habib bank habib bank ag zurich housing finance company of kenya i & m bank limited imperial bank limited jamii bora bank kenya commercial bank middle east bank kenya m oriental bank national bank of kenya nic bank paramount universal bank post bank prime bank sidian bank spire bank standard chartered kenya trans national bank kenya united bank for africa victoria commercial bank financial services organization diamond trust bank group equity group holdings limited commercial bank of africa group guaranty trust bank east africa i & m bank group kenya commercial bank group nic bank group foreign banks bank of china bank of kigali hdfc bank nedbank the hongkong and shanghai banking corporation first rand defunct banks dubai bank kenya euro bank microfinance institutions faulu microfinance bank limited smep microfinance bank kenya women microfinance bank related topics automated teller machine atm atm usage fees de materialisation demat foreign exchange forex financial services real time gross settlement rtgs national electronic fund transfer neft structured financial messaging system sfms retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title spire bank & oldid 741573026 categories banks of kenyacompanies of kenyacompanies based in nairobibanks established in 1983companies established in 19831983 establishments in kenyaeconomy of kenyanairobihidden categories articles containing potentially dated statements from 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