(NAIROBI, KENYA) – Kenya’s banking industry is undergoing a striking change in the way customers use their accounts, with tens of millions of deposit accounts disappearing from lenders’ books in 2025.
The scale of the change is captured in the latest Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) Bank Supervision Annual Report 2025, which shows that the number of deposit account holders fell by 29.4%, from 114.24 million in 2024 to 80.68 million last year.
The decline sharply reversed a decade long expansion in bank accounts.
The number rose from 8.48 million in 2009 to 69.88 million in 2020, then jumped to 94.64 million in 2023 and 114.24 million in 2024.
The banking regulator attributes the 2025 fall partly to consolidating financial inclusion fund savings balances into a single custody administered account, which aggregated customer wallet balances for reporting.
Increased recruitment of bank staff also contributed to the change in the efficiency ratio.
The data coincides with a wider shift away from traditional bank accounts as the primary savings vehicle.
A CBK analysis of the 2024 FinAccess survey found that only 14% of the population saved through banks or microfinance banks, compared with 36% who saved through mobile money.
Mobile banking accounted for another 17%, with its popularity driven by convenience, accessibility and trust.
“This suggests that while the banking sector continues to accumulate deposits, an increasing share of Kenyans are using banks less as everyday savings wallets and more as part of a broader financial ecosystem involving mobile money, SACCOs and other investment products,” the report read.
The shift comes against a difficult economic backdrop. Kenya’s economy grew by 4.6% in 2025, down slightly from 4.7% in 2024, according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics.
The softer growth came as households and businesses continued to grapple with high living and operating costs, limiting the amount of income available for conventional savings.
Yet the CBK report presents a paradox: the number of deposit accounts fell sharply even as the value of deposits increased.
Customer deposits in the banking sector rose by 11.6% to KES 6.12 trillion ($47.3 billion / GBP 35.5 billion) in December 2025, from KES 5.48 trillion ($42.4 billion / GBP 31.8 billion) a year earlier.
Total net assets rose 10.3% to KES 8.35 trillion ($64.6 billion / GBP 48.4 billion).
“The figures point to a banking system increasingly holding more money for a smaller or at least more consolidated pool of accounts.”
The Kenya Deposit Insurance Corporation (KDIC) has separately linked the sharp reduction in accounts to the rationalisation of dormant and inactive accounts.
Data show that banks closed about 33.8 million accounts in the year to June 2025, reducing the total from 112.5 million to 78.7 million.
“This clean up is significant because dormant accounts can eventually become unclaimed financial assets if they remain untouched for the periods prescribed by law.”
The annual sector supervision report shows that banking remains financially strong despite the changes in customer behaviour.
Pre tax profit rose 17.7% to KES 306.3 billion ($2.37 billion / GBP 1.78 billion) in 2025 from KES 260.3 billion ($2.01 billion / GBP 1.51 billion) in 2024.
Capital and reserves increased 18.6% to KES 1.4 trillion ($10.8 billion / GBP 8.12 billion), while the average liquidity ratio improved to 59.3% from 56%.
Lending also expanded, with gross loans increasing by 6.8%. However, credit quality remains a concern.
Non performing loans stood at KES 696.9 billion ($5.39 billion / GBP 4.04 billion) at the end of 2025, only marginally below KES 697.3 billion ($5.40 billion / GBP 4.05 billion) in 2024, although the NPL ratio improved from 17.1% to 16%.
Furthermore, the report shows a continuing migration towards digital banking.
The number of ATMs fell by 61, or 2.66%, to 2,228 in 2025 as banks increasingly shifted customers towards mobile and digital channels.
Meanwhile, microfinance banks faced greater pressure.
Their combined assets declined 4.1% to KES 55.5 billion ($429 million / GBP 322 million), while net advances fell 6.1% to KES 29.3 billion ($227 million / GBP 170 million).
The apex bank attributes the reduction partly to efforts to manage non performing loans and increased competition from other credit providers.