EBRD backs Co-op Bank of Kenya with $100M dollar-lending facility
What's the deal? The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)Dealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → has arranged a $100 million (Sh12.97 billion) facility with Co-operative Bank of KenyaDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → to expand dollar lending to traders and manufacturers. Co-op Bank has drawn the first $50 million tranche.
How it works: The EBRD provides dollars and receives shillings in return, a structure known as a cross-currency swap. That lets Co-op Bank lend dollars to customers without buying them on the open market, offering longer-term loans at more predictable costs.
Why it's notable: The transaction is the EBRD's first of its kind for any Kenyan bank and the first in the country to use the Kenya Shilling Overnight Interbank Average (KESONIA), Kenya's new benchmark reference rate. At $100 million, it ranks among the largest debt deals recorded in Kenya, in the top 7% of 157 tracked.
Why now? Kenyan lenders have increasingly tapped global institutions such as the EBRD and the International Finance Corporation for longer-term financing. This is the first known dollar-denominated EBRD deal with a tier-one Kenyan lender.
What's the endgame? The facility targets Kenya's trade finance gap, which keeps farmers, cooperatives, and micro, small, and medium enterprises out of export markets. The MSME sector contributes about 34% of GDP and employs more than 15 million people, yet remains underserved by formal finance.
"This is an important milestone for Kenya's financial markets," said Abdessamad Abouti, the EBRD's regional head of local-currency portfolio management, in a statement.
Co-op Bank Group managing director and chief executive officer Gideon Muriuki said the first tranche "enhances our ability to provide long-term, competitively priced foreign currency financing to help businesses strengthen their competitiveness."
The signal: The deal shows multilateral lenders using local-currency tools to ease dollar access in African markets. With intra-African trade stuck near 15% of total commerce — against nearly 70% in Europe — closing the financing gap is central to making frameworks like the African Continental Free Trade Area work.
Read more: standardmedia.co.ke
Image credit: Generated with Gemini
