Nairobi, July 6 -- South Africa's multinational Absa Group is putting pressure on its Kenyan unit to raise more income from non-lending activities in order to reduce the impact of falling interest rates on earnings.

The bank's Chief Executive Officer Kenny Fihla told investors that the Kenyan and Ghanaian units have demonstrated the need for the lender to diversify its revenue sources in markets outside of South Africa.

Absa Bank Kenya made Sh10.37 billion in net interest income in the first quarter of this year, which accounted for 70 percent of its total operating income of Sh14.65 billion.

This was among the higher ratios among Tier One banks, only trailing DTB (77 percent), I&M Group (76.2 percent) and Stanbic Bank Kenya at 76 perc...