Kenya’s Equity Bank Ranks 754 among top Banks Globally, 22 in Africa.

Kenya’s top bank, Equity Bank Group, has been ranked at position 754 out of 1000 global banks, a ranking that was based on an array of metrics including the size of the lender, financial soundness, profits on capital, and return on assets.

The lender jumped 90 spots from last year’s position 844.

Equity was ranked position 62 on Capital Assets Ratio and Financial Soundness, which is an improvement of 13 spots, from last year.

The bank also emerged at position 22 of the best banks in Africa. Despite the growth and development of its financial sector, Africa remains a minor player in global banking terms.

In 2019, the continent’s banking industry accounted for less than 1% of global Tier 1 capital making it the smallest regional player, behind Latin America with just over 2%.

“We are humbled that despite being a regional bank operating in Africa, we have made it among the top 754 banks in the world and demonstrated our efficiency and quality by being ranked among the top 62 global banks in the most important three parameters; Soundness or Financial Stability, Return on Assets and Return on Equity.” Dr James Mwangi, Managing Director and CEO Equity Group.

Equity has steadily improved in the global rankings as a result of a deliberate strategy to improve operational efficiencies, backed by an elaborate digitization strategy that has seen Equity’s over 14 million customers get access to customized, secure and convenient banking solutions aimed at meeting their evolving banking needs.

This year, Equity Group Holdings Board has taken a conservative approach that recognizes the emerging unquantified risk of the pandemic and opted to preserve capital in the face of the prevailing uncertainty occasioned by Covid-19.

In the first quarter of 2020, the lender’s profit before provisions was up by 10% to Kshs.10 billion from Kshs. 9.1 billion the previous year. However, the Group increased its loan loss provision tenfold to Kshs. 3 billion up from Kshs. 300 million the previous year leading to a decline of profit after tax by 14% from Kshs. 6.2 billion to 5.3 billion for the same period last year.

A strong Group liquidity position of 51.6% and strong total capital to risk-weighted asset buffer of 19.5% against a low loan to total assets ratio of 55% places the Group in a strong position to adequately handle the economic and financial challenges of the COVID-19 global health pandemic.

This position is further enhanced by an agile liquid balance sheet with cash and cash equivalents of 38% of total assets and long-term funding of shareholders’ funds and long-term debts constituting 23% of the total assets.