Nairobi, Jan. 18 -- On January 12, 2023, Centum Investments Company announced that it had called off the sale of its 83.4 percent stake in Sidian Bank to Access Bank, after the expiry of a six-month binding share purchase agreement.

This was quite unprecedented given Centum's checkered history of consummating transactions. That said, Sidian was the first investment in a commercial bank that Centum made and it has proved a bit challenging.

First, a bank creates value from the liability side of the balance sheet.

It makes money on the spread between the interest it pays to those from whom it raises funds (depositors) and the interest it charges those who borrow from it, and from other services it offers its depositors and its lenders.

T...