The bank’s net interest income grew 10 per cent to Sh41.4 billion/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 26 – Equity Group has registered a profit after tax of Sh 19.8 billion in its first financial year, the banks CEO James Mwangi said.
The performance covering the period till December 2018, is a growth from 18.9 billion shillings in 2017 posted last year.
“We are progressing well when it comes to our performance year in year out. Interest rates income still remain our stronghold as we have witnessed a 10 percent growth compared to last year from Sh48.4 billion to Sh53.2 billion,” said Mwangi.
The bank’s net interest income grew 10 per cent to Sh41.4 billion as it concentrated an increase in yield on loans at 11.7 percent as the yield on government securities went up by 11.4 percent.
The group equally shaved it’s operating expenses by 1 percent to close the year at Sh23.7 billion despite a 6 per cent drop on its non-funded income at Sh25.9 billion.
Mwangi said Equity’s fintech innovation and digitisation has led to the growth of merchant banking and diaspora banking leading to operational efficiencies, cost optimization and customer convenience.
The group’s cash transactions happening outside the branch now stand 96 percent with 93 percent of loans accessed and originated through mobile transactions.
However, the continuous drop in CBR has put pressure on yields on loans since CBR down a 100 basis points in 2018.
Equity Bank projects to see it’s loan growth to grow by 10-15 percent in 2019.
