Church-centred deposit taking micro-finance SMEP is eyeing to have its shares publicly traded "in the not-so-distant future".

Its chairman Gabriel Kivuti has said the DTM is monitoring a number of factors in the business environment, including the general election, after which it will seek approval for Initial Public Offering.

"One of the reasons for increasing our liquidity is because we hope to make an IPO soon," said Kivuti, without giving a specific time-line for the listing.

SMEP DTM is seeking to raise Sh1.6 billion in an ongoing share offer of more than 145 million new ordinary shares which kicked off on October 16 and closes on November 30. SMEP also envisions becoming "the first Christian Bank" fully licensed to conduct business as a commercial bank in the future.