Premier Bank, formally First Community Bank (FCB), is a Shari'ah compliant commercial bank in Kenya, the largest economy in the East African Community. The bank received a formal approval from the Central Bank of Kenya in 2007, the national banking regulator in the country but commenced its official operations on 1 June 2008.[1]
Overview
As of December 2019[update], the bank's total assets were valued at about US$187.62 million (KES:18.762 billion), with shareholders' equity of about US$14 million (KES:1.46 billion), and customer deposits of US$161 million (KES:16.126 billion).[2] At that time, the bank was ranked number 21, by assets, out of 43 licensed banks in Kenya then.
History
Premier Bank was established in 2007 as First Community Bank (FCB) to operate according to Islamic Shari'ah law by private Muslim investors in Kuwait, Kenya and Tanzania.[3] The bank received a Kenyan commercial banking license the same year, and officially started operations in June 2008. The FCB is the first Kenya-based fully fledged bank to operate according to the laws of Shari'ah. Since the founding of First Community Bank, other Sharia compliant banks such as Gulf African Bank (GAB), Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) and several Islamic windows operating under conversational banks have also received commercial licenses from the Central Bank of Kenya.[4][5]
Subsidiaries
The bank's first subsidiary is FCB Takful Insurance Broker, in which it maintains 100% shareholding. The insurance brokerage was established in 2010.[6] The bank also owns a second subsidiary, FCB Capital Limited, the first Sharia-compliant Investment capital in Kenya, wholly owned by First Community Bank.[7]
Branch network
As of March 2020[update], the bank maintains a network of branches at the following locations:[8]
