Equity outmuscles KCB as Kenya’s most profitable bank

By Seth Emmanuel

Kenya’s Equity Bank has overtaken KCB Group as Kenya’s most profitable lender in terms of net earnings and dividend payout with the latter hitting Sh11.3 billion or Sh3 per share for the year under review.

Equity Bank’s net income of Sh39.1 in the year ended December 2021 is a record for the bank and the industry, outpacing Sh34.1 billion posted by KCB Group – which was previously the biggest bank by earnings and assets.

Co-op Bank was the third-most profitable among banks that have published their results with a net income of Sh16.5 billion, followed by Absa Bank Kenya (Sh10.8 billion), Standard Chartered Bank Kenya (Sh9.04 billion) and Stanbic Holdings (Sh7.2 billion).

Equity’s dividend is also the largest in Kenya’s history ahead of KCB’s Sh9.6 billion, Stan Chart’s Sh7.1 billion, Co-op Bank’s Sh5.86 billion, Absa’s Sh5.9 billion and Stanbic Holdings’ Sh3.55 billion.

KCB Group had on Monday announced it had converted a Sh3.45 billion long-term loan it had given to National Bank of Kenya (NBK) last year into equity, helping the subsidiary meet its core capital ratios after years of default.

The conversion brings the total equity financing that KCB has put into NBK to Sh8.45 billion, having put in an equity investment of Sh5 billion when it was buying NBK in December 2019.

NBK also boosted its capital buffers through improved profitability last year, having raised net earnings fivefold to Sh1 billion from Sh177.7 million in 2020.