Our Client Commitment

1. We Will Always Give You Independent Advice

SIBK carries no proprietary capital and generates no trading revenues. We have no financial interest in recommending one product, instrument, or transaction over another. Our income comes from advisory and management fees — not from the sale of financial products or from positions we hold.

This structure is deliberate. It means that when we give you advice, our interests are aligned with yours: we succeed when you achieve the outcome you engaged us to deliver.

2. We Will Be Transparent About Fees, Risks, and Outcomes

Before any engagement commences, we will provide you with a clear, written statement of:

• The fees and charges applicable to your mandate or advisory engagement — including any performance-related components
• The risks associated with the services or products we are recommending or managing on your behalf
• Any assumptions underlying valuations, financial models, or performance projections we present to you
• The basis on which our advice or recommendations have been formed

We will not obscure or downplay material risks. If the honest assessment of a situation is unfavourable, we will tell you clearly — rather than presenting an optimistic picture to secure or retain a mandate.

3. We Will Honour Your Shariah Compliance Requirements

If you have engaged SIBK for a Shariah-compliant mandate or service, we commit to:

• Ensuring that all products, instruments, and transaction structures recommended or executed under your mandate have been independently certified as Shariah-compliant by our Shariah Compliance Officer before being presented to you
• Notifying you promptly if any holding in your portfolio, or any proposed transaction, fails to meet the required Shariah compliance standard
• Removing or restructuring any non-compliant element without delay — and without requiring you to request this
• Providing you with a clear explanation of the Shariah basis for any instrument or structure that is new to your portfolio

We will never compromise your Shariah compliance requirements for commercial convenience. If a mandate cannot be properly executed within a Shariah-compliant framework, we will tell you that at the outset — not after the fact.

4. We Will Bring Genuine Expertise to Your Mandate

Every client engagement at SIBK is led by a senior adviser with relevant sectoral and transactional experience. We do not assign junior team members as primary points of contact for client relationships without direct senior oversight and availability.

We commit to:

• Allocating advisers and portfolio managers whose experience is genuinely relevant to your specific mandate or transaction
• Conducting thorough, rigorous analysis before making any recommendation — and being able to explain the reasoning behind every recommendation clearly
• Acknowledging the limits of our expertise and recommending that you seek specialist advice in areas that fall outside our competence
• Staying current with developments in East African capital markets, applicable regulatory changes, and Islamic finance standards that are relevant to your engagement

5. We Will Communicate Clearly and Promptly

We understand that timely, clear communication is not a courtesy — it is part of the service you are paying for. We commit to:

• Responding to all client enquiries and communications within one business day, and to urgent matters on the same day wherever possible
• Proactively informing you of any material development affecting your mandate, portfolio, or transaction — without waiting for you to ask
• Writing to you in plain language — not in language designed to obscure, qualify, or limit our obligations
• Providing portfolio reports and performance updates at the frequency agreed in your mandate, and on time
• Giving you adequate notice before any significant change to the management of your portfolio or the scope of our advisory engagement

6. We Will Treat Your Information With the Strictest Confidentiality

All information you share with SIBK — including financial information, investment objectives, business plans, transaction details, and personal data — is treated as strictly confidential. We commit to:

• Not disclosing your information to any third party without your prior written consent, except as required by law, regulation, or applicable CMA requirements
• Holding your information securely and in compliance with applicable Kenyan data protection law
• Not using information obtained from one client engagement to benefit, or at the expense of, another client
• Informing you immediately if we become aware of any actual or potential breach of the confidentiality of your information

For full information on how we collect, use, and protect your personal data, please refer to our Privacy Notice.

7. We Will Maintain the Highest Standards of Professional Conduct

Every member of the SIBK team is expected to uphold the professional and ethical standards consistent with the Capital Markets Authority's requirements and SIBK's own internal conduct standards. This means:

• Acting at all times in your best interests — not in the interests of SIBK or of any third party
• Not engaging in any practice that could constitute market manipulation, insider trading, or any other breach of applicable securities law
• Treating all clients with equal professionalism, regardless of the size of their mandate or the complexity of their requirements
• Reporting any breach of our conduct standards — by any member of the team — without delay, and taking corrective action promptly

SIBK is regulated by the Capital Markets Authority of Kenya under Licence No. 115. We take our regulatory obligations seriously and actively cooperate with the CMA in all matters relating to our licensed activities.

8. We Will Take Your Feedback Seriously

If you believe we have fallen short of any of these commitments — or of the standard of service you are entitled to expect — we want to hear from you. Not because we are required to have a complaints process, but because client feedback is the most important signal we have about whether we are fulfilling our purpose.

We commit to:

• Acknowledging all complaints and feedback within two business days
• Investigating any complaint thoroughly and impartially — including complaints about senior members of the team
• Providing a substantive written response within 14 business days of receiving a formal complaint, or keeping you updated on progress if more time is required
• Not retaliating, in any form, against a client who raises a complaint or provides critical feedback
• Using client feedback to improve our service — not merely to resolve individual complaints

Contact Us

To discuss any aspect of this Client Commitment, or to speak to a member of our advisory team about our services:

Related documents: Disclaimer  ·  Privacy Notice  ·  Terms & Conditions  ·  Regulatory & Compliance