Team size: Eight
Major legal advisors: Mboya Wangong’u & Waiyaki Advocates
Jurisdictions your role covers: Kenya
Q&A
What are the most significant cases or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?
Most recently, we have handled the listing of Family Bank Shares at the Nairobi Securities Exchange. This was a long process, starting with shareholders’ approval which we obtained at a General Meeting held in October 2025. Prior to this, we had to make a number of presentations to be Board advising on the legal and regulatory requirements, steps involved and the implications of the listing. Upon obtaining the shareholders’ approval, we then engaged transaction advisors to handle the valuation, legal due diligence and other aspects of the information memorandum that a listing company is required to prepare. Legal was involved in the contracting and the legal due diligence at this point.
The next step involved obtaining approval from the regulator, the Capital Markets Authority and a no objection from the Central Bank of Kenya. To ensure a smooth process, we first made courtesy calls to the regulators way before submitting our applications. This was to ensure that we got support from the regulators and to clarify the requirements for listing. This ensured that by the time we submitted our applications, the regulators were well aware and ready to support us.
All along the process, we kept the stakeholders aware of the progress and highlighted any challenges in good time to avoid surprises. We were highly engaged with the external legal advisors both on the due diligence and seeking/giving legal advice as necessary.
After submission of our applications, we continued to follow up with the regulators, just to ensure that where were required, we were at hand to give clarifications. We did encounter challenges with one of the regulators, and on a regular basis we sought to fill in any gaps and offer explanations where required. In this process, we were proactive in our engagement with the regulators.
We also made several presentations to drive awareness among our colleagues, explaining the impact of listing to the employees, the bank and our shareholders. We explained that the impact was more than just enhanced compliance and a chance to optimise the shareholders’ value. We made the employees aware of the enhanced exposure to reputational risk due to wider exposure to the capital markets, local and international investors and the requirements for increased disclosure of information. This meant that we had to have a clear understanding of legal and regulatory requirements, and the broader impact of listing.
For me this was a great opportunity to learn more about the capital markets and indeed share knowledge with stakeholders who looked upon me to unpack what listing means. It was also an opportunity to demonstrate my leadership skills, coordinating diverse teams both from the bank and external advisors. It gave me an unforgettable experience, especially where we had to answer hard questions from regulators.
How is your legal function leveraging technology to enhance efficiency in areas such as contract management and compliance monitoring?
My Legal team has sought to automate a number of tasks over the last couple of years. We presented proposals to the Bank’s Software development team to develop a Contract Management System. We sat with the developers to explain our requirements and gave our feedback after testing to improve the final product. We also collaborated to develop a litigation management system, which simplifies tracking and reporting of court cases. The system is being enhanced to include alerts on upcoming cases. These systems save costs through minimising use of papers, save time which would be spent filing and retrieving documents and make it more convenient for the team members.
What strategies has your legal team adopted to mitigate legal and regulatory risks in a rapidly evolving business and political environment?
The team keeps itself updated with legal developments, tracking legal and regulatory changes as well as legal predecents. This is enhanced through internal training where members train the department on legal developments and are recognised for it. We have a training budget to allow team members to attend relevant training every year. Beginning 2025, we have an initiative dubbed ‘Adopt a Unit’ where the team identified a function within the bank, reviews their processes and documents and then offers training where there are gaps. We have conducted training for at least six branches, the HR department, Credit department and Bancassurance. This ensures that the Legal team members first understand the processes of the other functions, and the applicable regulations, identify gaps and make recommendations on how to close them. As a result, the HR Policy has been revised with input from Legal department and a number of documents were reviewed in the Bancassurance and Credit departments.
