Equity ranked Kenya’s top bank in a new survey

Equity Bank has grown rapidly over the years to become the second most profitable in the country. FILE 

By BD REPORTER
 

 

In Summary

• The survey by ThinkBusiness found that Equity had the lowest charges in the industry.

Equity Bank beat 42 other local lenders to rank as the best bank in Kenya in a survey conducted by ThinkBusiness magazine.

The bank has grown rapidly over the years to become the second most profitable in the country, posting a Sh12 billion net profit last year.

It has more than half of all bank customers in Kenya having revolutionised the retail banking segment with innovations such as allowing customers to open accounts without deposits. The survey by ThinkBusiness found that Equity had the lowest charges in the industry.

The bank also emerged tops among large banks, ahead of Standard Chartered and Barclays, which were ranked second and third. KCB won the Best Bank in Microfinance title, signifying the giant’s shift to the bottom of the pyramid market.

Dr Martin Oduor-Otieno, the former CEO of KCB, was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to the industry and at KCB, which he led to become the largest and most profitable bank in the country. Top managers and bank industry leaders nominate the person they feel has had the most positive impact on the industry for the title.

The CEO of the Diamond Trust Bank Nasim Devji was declared the Chief Executive of the Year. The Banking survey comprised of 43 commercial banks and seven deposit-taking microfinance institutions (DTM).

Kenya Women Finance Trust (KWFT DTM) was awarded the special award for deposit-taking MFIs, and was followed by Faulu DTM and SMEP DTM. Century DTM got the award for product innovation for their Mazao Factor Loan.

The awards come at a time when the banking industry continues to post strong growth, led by the biggest banks that have traditionally dominated all the sector’s metrics including profitability, customer deposits and lending.

Banks grew their pre-tax profits 19.2 per cent to Sh106 billion last year compared to Sh89 billion the year before.

“It is the biggest banks that registered marked growth in profitability,” ThinkBusiness said.

The biggest laggards were Ecobank and Equatorial Commercial Bank, which reported losses in the period.