Kenyan banker Suresh Bhagwanji Shah gains $18 million in Q3 as I&M Group shares hit a record

Kenyan banker Suresh Shah saw the value of his stake in I&M Group Plc rise by $18.2 million in the third quarter of 2026, as the lender's shares climbed to a record on the Nairobi Securities Exchange.

Shah, one of I&M's largest shareholders, owns 174,947,573 shares in the Nairobi-based banking group. I&M shares closed at 70 Kenyan shillings on July 1 and at 83.50 shillings on Sept. 29, a gain of 19.3%. Billionaires.Africa calculations show the rise lifted the value of his holding from $94.4 million to $112.6 million.

The Kenyan shilling held steady at about 129.7 per dollar over the quarter, so the gain came from the share price alone.

I&M operates banks in Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, along with insurance and investment services businesses. The stock traded between 41.95 shillings and 83 shillings over the past 52 weeks and touched the top of that range on Sept. 24.

The rally followed stronger half-year earnings. I&M reported profit after tax of 10.2 billion shillings for the six months to June 30, up 22% from a year earlier. Profit before tax rose 15% to 13.5 billion shillings.

Most of the growth came from outside Kenya. I&M Bank Rwanda increased profit before tax by 53% to 2.4 billion shillings, and I&M Bank Uganda more than tripled its profit before tax to 0.7 billion shillings. The group's non-Kenyan units produced 33% of group profit before tax in the first half, up from 25% a year earlier.

Two other members of the Shah family also gained. Sarit Raja Shah's 37,595,103 I&M shares and Sachit Raja Shah's 37,152,231 shares each rose in value by about $3.9 million during the quarter.