Frank Ireri, the former Housing Finance boss who spent more than a decade trying to turn one of Kenya’s oldest mortgage lenders into a modern financial group, has died of cancer in Nairobi. He was 63.

For much of the 2000s and 2010s, Ireri was a familiar name in Kenya’s banking sector—a confident, sharp-witted banker who believed that Housing Finance could be more than a niche mortgage lender. When he took over as managing director in 2006, the company was struggling to remain relevant in a fast-changing banking market dominated by aggressive commercial banks and new digital challengers.

He set out to give it a new life. Ireri diversified its loan book, created new business arms, and by 2014, oversaw the creation of HF Group, a holding structure meant to transform the lender into a full financial services company. It was an ambitious plan, and for a while, it appeared to be working.

HF expanded into retail banking, issued corporate bonds, and gained a reputation for being a bold player.

Born and raised in Nairobi, Ireri studied commerce at the University of Nairobi and trained as a Certified Public Accountant. He started his career at Deloitte and Arthur Andersen before moving into banking, where he held senior roles at Citibank, Commercial Bank of Africa, and Barclays.

A technocrat

At his best, Ireri embodied the rise of a new generation of Kenyan corporate leaders—technocrats who believed in systems, numbers, and process. He was known for his attention to detail, his commitment to strong governance, and his conviction that banks had a responsibility to help Kenyans own homes.

But the years that followed tested him. By 2017, the lender’s profits had plunged from KES 905 million ($7 million) to just KES 126 million ($975,000) as Kenya’s property market cooled and the government’s rate cap policy squeezed margins. Around the same time, Ireri’s pay drew public scrutiny when it emerged that he earned KES 64 million ($495,000) that year—nearly half of HF’s total profit that year.

It was an awkward moment for a man who had built his reputation on performance and prudence. Later, court filings revealed billions of dollars in bad loans that had gone unreported during his tenure. Though he denied any wrongdoing, the damage to his reputation was lasting.

In 2018, after 13 years at the top, Ireri left the lender quietly, without the fanfare that had accompanied his rise. In the years after leaving HF, Ireri kept close to the causes that mattered to him. He chaired the board of Habitat for Humanity Kenya, an NGO that supports marginalised groups to get housing, served as a director at Centum Real Estate, a real estate subsidiary of Centum Investment, and continued to advocate for affordable housing. Behind the corporate persona was someone who believed deeply that every Kenyan deserved a place to call home.