What Abdi Mohamed inherits as he takes over the top job at I&M Bank

I&M Bank has spent much of 2026 building a broader growth model around retail customers, small businesses, digital channels and its East African subsidiaries. That gives Abdi Mohamed a substantial platform as he begins leading the Kenyan business, but it also leaves him with a more demanding task than simply expanding the loan book.

The bank is trying to increase the number of customers it serves, the number of transactions they make and the range of financial products attached to those relationships. At group level, its regional subsidiaries are also contributing more to earnings, while technology is being developed as infrastructure that can serve multiple markets.

The opportunity is considerable. So is the execution challenge.

I&M’s growth story is already well underway

I&M Group entered the second half of 2026 with strong headline numbers. Net profit for the six months to June rose 22 percent to KSh10.2 billion, while profit before tax increased 15 percent to KSh13.5 billion. Operating income rose 23 percent to KSh33.7 billion, with total assets reaching KSh746 billion.

The group also expanded its balance sheet. Net loans increased 15 percent to KSh334 billion, while customer deposits rose 18 percent to KSh505 billion.

Those figures provide useful context for Mohamed’s arrival because he is taking charge of a business that already has a defined direction. I&M has been expanding its customer base, investing in technology and looking for additional revenue from payments, foreign exchange, remittances, wealth management and insurance alongside conventional lending.

There is therefore little reason for the new leadership to start by rewriting the entire strategy. The bigger question is how effectively the bank can execute what is already underway.

Retail and SME banking are becoming more important

I&M’s traditional strength has been in corporate and business banking, but the bank has been putting considerably more weight behind retail and SME customers.

Its Kenyan retail and business banking loan book has crossed KSh100 billion, giving the bank a larger base from which to build deposits, payments and other services. For a lender operating in a competitive market, the value of these customers extends beyond the interest earned on their loans.

A small business borrowing from I&M can also hold its operating account there, receive payments, make supplier transfers, exchange currencies and use other financial services. The same logic applies to individual customers, whose deposits, payments, credit, insurance and investment activity can all contribute to the value of the relationship.

That broader customer relationship is becoming more important as lending economics change.

Kenyan banks have spent much of the recent period dealing with pressure on interest margins, credit quality and the cost of maintaining physical and digital distribution. I&M’s response has been to build more sources of revenue around the customer rather than rely entirely on traditional lending income.

For Mohamed, that means growth will have to be measured in more than the size of the balance sheet.

Digital customers are changing the economics of growth

The bank’s digital strategy is one of the clearest examples of where I&M is trying to change how it acquires and serves customers.

By September, roughly 25,000 customers were opening I&M accounts each month without visiting a branch. The bank’s digital onboarding process uses national identification, smartphone verification and liveness checks, allowing customers to open accounts remotely and fund them through mobile money.

Around 85 percent of I&M’s retail accounts were being opened digitally.

That matters because customer acquisition is one of the biggest costs in financial services. A bank that can onboard customers digitally can reach more people without having to expand its physical footprint at the same pace.

The value goes further once customers begin using the account. Their payment behaviour can provide information that helps the bank understand their financial activity, develop credit assessments and offer additional services.

I&M has already been applying this approach to digital lending. Its Kenyan digital loan has evolved towards working-capital financing for small traders, while its Tanzanian Kamilisha overdraft product has reached millions of Airtel subscribers.

The strategy connects three parts of the business that were once treated separately: customer acquisition, transaction activity and lending.

That creates an important opportunity for the new leadership, but it also raises the standard for execution. Digital customers have little patience for unreliable platforms, cumbersome onboarding or products that do not work across the channels they already use.

Regional operations are carrying more weight

I&M’s growth story is no longer confined to Kenya.

The group’s subsidiaries in Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania contributed 33 percent of group pre-tax profit in the first half of 2026, up from 25 percent a year earlier. Rwanda delivered particularly strong growth, while Uganda and Tanzania also increased their contributions.

That gives I&M a regional earnings base that is becoming too significant to treat as a secondary part of the business.

It also fits the group’s approach to technology. Capabilities developed in Kenya can support operations elsewhere, allowing I&M to spread the cost of technology investment across several markets. Products and infrastructure can be adapted for different customer bases rather than built independently in every country.

This is an area where Mohamed’s experience across East African banking becomes particularly relevant. His previous leadership experience in Tanzania gives him direct exposure to a market outside Kenya, while his wider career has covered different parts of the banking business.

The opportunity is to use that regional footprint to create more scale. The complication is that the markets do not have identical customer behaviour, competitive structures or regulatory environments.

The pressure is turning growth into stronger returns

Strong customer and balance-sheet growth is useful, but it does not automatically translate into better economics.

I&M’s first-half results showed why. While the group performed strongly, the Kenyan banking business faced higher provisions and operating expenses. The bank has been spending to expand its distribution and capabilities while also managing credit risk.

That creates a tension that Mohamed will have to manage carefully.

Digital banking can reduce the cost of acquiring and serving customers, but building the technology requires capital. Retail and SME lending can broaden the customer base, but smaller borrowers can also bring different credit risks. Branch expansion can increase reach, but it adds fixed costs. Regional expansion creates diversification, but each market requires management attention and capital.

The strategic objective is therefore not simply to make I&M bigger.

It is to make the additional scale economically productive.

That means getting more transactions from existing customers, converting digital acquisition into active relationships, controlling credit losses and finding revenue opportunities outside interest income.

Mohamed’s challenge is execution

The pieces of the strategy are already visible.

I&M has a growing retail and SME business, a rapidly expanding digital customer base, a larger regional earnings contribution and technology that can support operations across several markets. It also has a balance sheet large enough to compete for customers across multiple segments.

What comes next will depend on how those pieces are connected.

The bank’s digital channels need to generate meaningful customer activity rather than simply increase account numbers. Its lending expansion needs to remain disciplined as it reaches smaller businesses and consumers. Its regional operations need to continue contributing to group earnings while benefiting from shared technology and expertise.

There is also the question of revenue quality. Payments, foreign exchange, remittances, wealth management and insurance can provide income that is less directly tied to the lending cycle, but those businesses require active customers and strong distribution.

That is where the I&M Bank growth strategy now faces its clearest test.

Mohamed inherits a lender with strong financial momentum and a strategy that is already moving into new customer segments and markets. His task is to make those investments work together, producing enough customer activity and revenue to justify the cost of building the platform.

The next chapter of I&M’s growth will therefore be judged less by how many new products the bank launches or how quickly its customer numbers rise, and more by whether the institution can turn that scale into consistent, profitable relationships across Kenya and the wider region.

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