[caption id="attachment_26288" align="alignleft" width="90"] Joshua Oigara[/caption]

KCB Bank Group Chief Financial Officer Joshua Oigara is the likely replacement for Martin Oduor-Otieno as the Groups Chief Executive Officer. According to reliable information obtained by Pesatalk, Oigara came top amongst the interviewees in the final shortlist for the position. If confirmed, Oigara will take over from Oduor-Otieno who is set to retire in April next year.

The position advertised in early October required the incoming CEO to be an experienced person who must have managed blue chip banks or corporates with an asset base of at least KES 297.5 billion (USD 3.5 billion).

According to reports, among the biggest banks in Kenya currently, only KCB has an asset base that exceeds that ceiling with total assets estimated at KES 322 billion. Equity Bank, the second largest bank in terms of assets, has an asset base of valued at KES 220 billion while Standard Chartered asset base stands at KES 188 billion. Cooperative Bank has an asset base of KES 177 billion while Barclays has an asset base of KES 168 billion.

Oigara joined KCB in November 2011 from Bamburi Cement Limited where he served as an Executive Director and the Group Finance Director for the East Africa region. He is an MBA graduate from the Edith Cowan University (ECU) in Australia and has a Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting) degree from the University of Nairobi. He is a Certified Public Accountant of Kenya and a member of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya.

Martin Oduor-Otieno joined the bank in 2005 and served as the Director of all KCB Group Companies, including mortgage division S&L. He has previously served as the Chairman of Kenya Bankers Association (KBA).