Standard Chartered Bank Kenya will remain a tenant at its current headquarters along Westlands Road after selling the property, with the lender set to lease back part of the building.
The lender expects to complete the sale of the headquarters, whose value was estimated at Sh1.41 billion as of June 2025, by the end of the year.
The bank’s transition from owner to tenant aligns with its strategy of scaling down its physical footprint while expanding its digital presence.
The tier-one lender, which operated just 22 branches last year, down from 42 in 2016, has bucked the trend of expanding physical banking networks, instead doubling down on digital channels as it sharpens its focus on wealth management and corporate and investment banking.
“The process (of selling the headquarters) has been ongoing. We are at a stage where we are evaluating the bidders, and we are hoping to conclude it this year, if we can,” said Standard Chartered Bank Kenya Chief Executive Officer Birju Sanghrajka.
“But it is essentially a leaseback as we continue to operate from here, and it just makes sense because, when we moved into this building in 2010, we occupied the entire building, six floors plus the ground floor. We now occupy only two and a half floors plus the ground floor, with a business that is significantly larger than it was 15 or 16 years ago.”
Standard Chartered’s headquarters sit on 1.88 acres and have an estimated market rental value of Sh196 million.
The lender has been reducing its property holdings in recent years, having sold its Treasury Square building in Mombasa and its Nyeri branch in 2025.
The Mombasa building, whose valuation was revised down to Sh198.6 million in 2024 from Sh222 million, houses Standard Chartered’s first branch, which opened in 1911.
The Nyeri property was meanwhile put up for sale in 2024 with a valuation of Sh175 million.
Disclosures in the bank’s annual report show that Standard Chartered sold freehold land and buildings worth Sh215.2 million last year.
The disposal of its real estate portfolio signals a shift towards leasing rather than owning property, allowing the lender to focus on its core banking business. Standard Chartered Bank Kenya will retain two other properties: one in Nairobi and another in Nanyuki.
