Former Principal Secretary Esther Koimett has reversed attempts to hide her 18.24 percent stake in Middle East Bank Kenya under a nominee company amid ownership changes in the lender.
Regulatory disclosures from the financier show that Ms Koimett’s ownership increased from 17.48 percent in August to 18.24 percent in October in the lender, which has roots in Dubai, and was initially owned by the Al-Futtaim Group, associated with Carrefour supermarkets.
The disclosures show that Koimett’s stake was transferred twice in October, with the first move placing it under a company in the wake of multiple share dealings in the small-tier bank.
First, the increased holding was put under PrimeCorp Holdings on October 5 before being placed directly under her name on October 9.
The changes come in the middle of ownership shifts in the bank that saw two firms– MEB Holdings and Baumann Management Services Limited disappear from the list of the bank’s top five owners.
MEB Holdings had an 11.58 percent stake in August, while Baumann ownership stood at 6.6 percent in changes that triggered talks that Ms Koimett had transferred her shares.
“There has not been any action on my side,” Ms Koimett said in response to Business Daily.
She is the largest shareholder in Middle East Bank Kenya following a multi-billion-shilling wealth transfer from her father, the late long serving minister Nicholas Biwott.
The shareholding places her at the centre of strategic decision-making in the bank, where she joined the board on February 26, 2024.
Other firms that have appeared as top shareholders in the bank include Aloe Farm Limited and Ibui Company, which is associated with Titus Ibui, a board member at the bank and former chairperson of the Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport Corridor. Both firms have a 5.2 percent stake each.
A 40.88 percent stake is equally distributed between Ilarem Enterprises, Meban Holdings, Ognoko Traders, Okoli Properties, Zon Capital, Bold Bucket, Kiko Fairs and Irobian Holdings– with each having a 5.11 percent ownership.
The number of corporate shareholders has also jumped to 23 from 21, with local investors controlling 89.79 percent of the bank and foreigners 10.21 percent.
It’s unclear when Ms Koimett acquired the top stake in the lender that Al-Futtaim Group established in August 1981, before the UAE-based conglomerate ceded ownership to locals in the early 1990s.
Previous reports have linked her late billionaire father Biwott, to a stake in the bank amid talk that the powerful cabinet minister in the Moi era acquired the ownership following Al-Futtaim’s exit in April 1991.
The exit of Al-Futtaim was modelled as an attempt to “Kenyanise” the bank’s ownership structure. Mr Biwott succumbed to kidney failure on July 11th, 2017, aged 77.
Mr Biwott entered politics in 1974 – almost 10 years after Kenya became independent from British rule – and later became personal assistant to President Daniel arap Moi when he was vice-president. Moi died in 2002.
While in government, Mr Biwott built massive wealth spanning several industries, which was recently passed to his heirs.
He bequeathed to each of his children, including Koimett, from the four wives an equal one-fourteenth share of his estate.
Middle East Bank posted a net profit of Sh264.37 million in the year ended December 2025, marking a 22.2 percent rise from Sh216.34 million.
In the first quarter ended March this year, net earnings rose 16.9 percent to Sh35.29 million.
Ms Koimett’s ownership in Middle East Bank emerges in a period when local banks have become a target for large African lenders seeking buyout deals for expansion into Kenya and to use the country as a launch pad into the East African market.
Kenya’s appeal lies in its gateway role to the East African Community, a fast growing trade bloc expanding by at least five percent a year.
Koimett’s stake and directorship in Middle East Bank Kenya cement her boardroom dealings in corporate Kenya.
She is currently the chairperson of M-Pesa Holdings Company and AAR Insurance Kenya, and also sits on the boards of Kenya Airways, Car & General and the African Trade and Investment Development Insurance.
Her career as head Kenya Post Office Savings Bank, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism and Information and investment secretary at the Treasury earned her the moniker: the iron lady of Kenya’s public service.
Middle East Bank Kenya was one of the 10 banks that raced to increase their capital last year in response to the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK)’s push to raise lenders’ minimum capital from Sh1 billion to Sh3 billion by last December.
Six of the 10 lenders, including M-Oriental Bank, Africa Banking Corporation (ABC), Middle East Bank of Kenya, CIB Kenya, Premier Bank and UBA Kenya, raised their core capital above Sh3 billion by the end of March this year.
Middle East Bank of Kenya’s core capital rose to Sh3.07 billion at the end of December 2025 from Sh2.11 billion in September.
