Equity Bank has announced a five percent growth in profit after tax for the year ending December 31, 2018 to Ksh.19.8 billion from Ksh.18.9 billion in earnings across 2017.
The growth by Kenya’s largest lender by customer base is primarily attributable to increased lending to both its clientele base and government.
Equity Group for instance advanced an additional Ksh.33 billion through trading in government securities during the year on top of Ksh.297.2 billion in loans and advances to push interest income up by 10 percent to Ksh.53.2 billion.
The lender similarly grew on its customer deposits by 13 percent to Ksh.422.8 billion to reflect on customers increased confidence on the bank.
“We are excited to see our deposits grow faster than loans. We know in loans it is the bank that selects borrowers but in deposits, it is the customer that selects the bank. The growth in deposits is nearly double the sector’s average. We view this as a vote of confidence and trust in the bank,” said Equity Group Managing Director James Mwangi.
The group’s non-funded income however slumped by 6 percent to Ksh.25.9 billion from Ksh.27.6 billion in 2017 to reflect on banks’ increasing challenge in growing their non-loan related revenues as was the case with the majority of its tier one peers who include KCB and Barclays Bank.