Co-op Bank wins Water Finance Award as funding gap endures
Business
By
Brian Ngugi
| Oct 18, 2026
Co-operative Bank of Kenya (Co-op Bank) won an award on Friday for a dedicated water-financing business that has made it one of the country's most active commercial lenders to water service providers.
The recognition comes even as the water sector in the country grapples with losses of nearly half its treated supply and a financing shortfall of roughly Sh466 billion.
The bank received the Leadership in Water Infrastructure and Finance Award at the Africa WaterCredits Forum 2026, held on October 16 at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Nairobi.
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The forum brought together financial institutions, water utilities, development partners and sector stakeholders to discuss ways to accelerate commercial investment in water and sanitation across the continent, with a focus on water credits, tradable instruments, similar in concept to carbon credits, that represent verified water savings or access gains.
The award recognises Co-op A Maji, a product that gives water companies, small businesses and households tailored loans for storage tanks, solar-powered pumps, boreholes, meters, pipe connections and water and sewage tanker trucks.
The recognition reflects a sustained push rather than a one-off, organisers said.
Co-op A Maji has positioned the bank among Kenya's leading financiers of water companies, with lending spanning water supply, latrine and septic tank emptying services, metering and sanitation infrastructure across cities, their outskirts and rural areas.
In November 2024, the bank signed a Sh500 million partnership with Aqua for All, Water.org and the Water and Sanitation Services Provider Association to unlock loans for at least 15 medium-sized water projects with the potential to reach more than 50,000 people.
It also presented its water-sector equipment leasing and asset-finance model at the Stockholm International Water Institute's World Water Week this year, a leading global water conference.
A KfW market assessment identified Co-operative Bank among a small group of lenders expressing conditional interest in water-sector lending, noting that capital exists but few projects are ready to absorb it.
Group Managing Director Gideon Muriuki said in a statement following the award:
"Access to reliable water and sanitation remains one of Kenya's most pressing development priorities, and innovative financing is essential to turn infrastructure ambitions into delivered services.”
“Co-op A Maji reflects the Bank's long-standing focus on sectors that drive inclusive growth and improve livelihoods at the community level."
The context remains sobering. About 44 per cent of treated water, lost to leaks, illegal connections and billing failures, never reaches a paying customer, according to the Water Ministry, costing utilities over Sh10 billion a year.
The sector needs an estimated Sh995 billion investment but is likely to mobilise only Sh529 billion, leaving a gap of Sh466 billion, according to a Netherlands embassy water report.
Access to basic drinking water stood at 68 per cent in 2022/23, while urban sewerage coverage was 32 per cent, according to government data cited in the report.
Each Kenyan has about 405 cubic metres of freshwater available a year, well below the level considered water-secure.