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Co-operative Bank of Kenya CEO Gideon Muriuki has bought an additional 5.5 million shares in the lender, lifting his holding to a record 2.3% as the stock trades near a one year peak.
Filings cited by Business Daily show Muriuki held 135 million Co-op Bank shares as of December 2025, up from 129.5 million shares in May 2025 when his stake stood at 2.21%. The purchases, valued at about 148.2 million shillings at current market prices, were made over the seven months to December.
Muriuki, one of Kenya’s longest serving top bankers, had maintained roughly a 2% interest in the bank for years before stepping up buying early in 2025. The larger position keeps him the biggest individual investor in the Nairobi Securities Exchange listed lender, ahead of other shareholders.
Businessman Baloobhai Patel has also accumulated Co-op Bank shares over several years, but stopped after reaching 100 million shares, equivalent to a 1.7% stake, the regulatory disclosures show. That leaves him second among individual investors, behind the chief executive.
Investors often read executive buying as a signal of confidence, since insiders have a close view of strategy, risks and competitive pressures. Still, such purchases do not guarantee future performance, and share prices can turn quickly with changes in interest rates, credit quality or regulation.
Co-op Bank shares hit a new 52 week high of 27.95 shillings on Friday and ended the session at an average 26.95, market data showed. The stock is up 71.65% over the past 12 months, one of the stronger runs among Nairobi listings.
The rally has been accompanied by a shift in dividends. The lender last month declared its first interim dividend of 1 shilling a share, signaling a bigger payout for the year ended December 2025. Co-op Bank previously paid a single annual dividend of 1.5 shillings. If the bank keeps the final dividend at 1.5 shillings, total cash returns would rise to 2.5 shillings per share, a 66.6% increase from the prior year’s payout.
Behind the market momentum is earnings growth. Co-op Bank posted a 12.3% rise in net profit to 21.56 billion shillings in the nine months to September, driven by higher interest income. Net interest income grew 22.8% to 45.27 billion shillings from 36.87 billion a year earlier as the bank expanded lending.
The group has leaned into a Kenya first expansion strategy, keeping a limited footprint abroad while adding branches in targeted locations and pushing more customers onto digital channels. It serves the local market through the Co-op Bank brand and Kingdom Bank, formerly Jamii Bora Bank, which it acquired in 2020 in a Central Bank of Kenya supervised rescue deal. Analysts say the bank’s local focus has helped keep costs in check and margins.
Outside Kenya, the group’s only foreign operation is Co-operative Bank of South Sudan. Co-op Bank owns 51% of the subsidiary, while the government of South Sudan holds the remaining 49% in trust for the co-operative movement there.
