How to open a bank account in Kenya

  

Date Posted: 10/12/2012 3:32:03 AM

Posted By: marto  Membership Level: Gold  Total Points: 2900

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Opening a bank account is a necessity nowadays because of the following reasons.

1. It offers a platform where you can transact your business financial activities.
2. It helps one develop a saving culture. One can save money which is not needed immediately, in a bank account for a certain duration of time.
3. Many banks look at one''s account history before extending credit facility e.g loans, mortgages or credit cards.
4. It can act as a platform for receiving salary remittances from your employer. Many employers prefer to pay their employees via inter-bank electronic funds transfer (EFT)
5. Helps one to carry out both international and online money transactions seamlessly.
6. For students in universities, it is a requirement by Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) for faster access to awarded education loans.

Now opening a bank account is very easy here in Kenya because it is merely a walk-in walk-out operation.

To open a bank account with any bank here in Kenya, the following documents are needed.

1. Original and copy of national identity card or passport
2. Passport size photos - Most of the account opening officials will photograph you from within the bank premises.
3. An introduction letter from an account holder. Many banks require you to present an introduction letter from one of their existing account holders.
4. Address confirmation document - This could be a utility bill e.g KPLC bill, water bill e.t.c
5. Business registration certificate for those opening business accounts
6. PIN certificate for those opening business accounts.
7. Student IDs for those opening student accounts

Account opening requirements will vary from bank to bank and my advise is that you visit your bank of interest and get all the requirements.

Once you have all the required items in place, the account opening staff from the bank will carry out the rest of the procedures such as know your customer

(KYC).

Account opening process take few minutes for personal and student accounts and a few hours or days for business accounts or corporate accounts.

Do you have a bank account? If your answer is NO, please go get one.

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