Africa's best bank 2020: Equity Bank
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AwardsAwards for Excellence

Africa's best bank 2020: Equity Bank

Awards for Excellence 2020

Kenya’s Equity Bank stands out as a modern financial institution, a domestic champion and a regional player. As a result, it receives this year’s award for Africa’s best bank.

Under the stewardship of chief executive James Mwangi, the bank has come a long way from a traditional bricks-and-mortar institution. After two years of extensive investment in digital technology, it now better reflects the changing needs and behaviour of its customer base.

Mobile banking transactions stood at 595 million in 2019, accounting for 78% of all the bank’s transactions.

Despite a tough operating environment and a cap on interest rates, which saw bank lending in Kenya constrained, Equity Bank returned an 11% increase in pre-tax profit to KSh31.5 billion ($296 million) in 2019 from KSh28.5 billion a year earlier.

This was driven by an impressive 23% growth in the loan book to KSh366.4 billion from KSh297.2 billion in 2018, despite the interest rate cap, which was removed in November 2019.

Mwangi calls that growth the “highlight of last year’s performance”.

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