The Kenyan lender's acquisition of Trust Merchant Bank follows the Democratic Republic of Congo's formal entry into the East African Community.

Managing director Marlene Ngoyi on the challenges of the DRC’s large unbanked population.

Financial inclusion figures are slowly improving in the DRC, but optimism prevails with regards to making faster progress.

African banks are increasingly looking outside of their domestic markets, and many of the continent's biggest lenders are now active in multiple countries, buoyed by greater access to vast unbanked populations and a more stable political environment.