James Mwangi, CEO, Equity Group Holdings Ltd.Equity Bank, Kenya’s second-largest bank, has revealed that 96% of all its transactions are happening outside the branch during the release of its 2018 FY results.
It was also revealed 89% of all successfully processed loans are now originating via mobile channels.
89% of all successfully processed loans are now originated via mobile channels, while 96% of our transactions are happening outside the branch – Dr. James Mwangi #Equity2018FYResults pic.twitter.com/j3bOPbjVcn
— Equity Bank Kenya (@KeEquityBank) March 26, 2019
According to James Mwangi, the CEO, Equity Group Holdings:
“The transitional value and volumes of Finserve solutions continue to register significant growth.”
Here is a breakdown of Finserve transactions and volume:
- 93% of all loans processed through Equitel
- Equitel has close to 2 million users, which makes it one of the fastest growing MVNO globally
- 1 out of every 5 shillings flowing through Kenya’ mobile money system is processed via Equitel
- Over 2,000 businesses are already using the Jenga APIs and payment gateway to automate to automate their payment back-end.
- mKey – the company’s lifestyle and social app that combines financial features, already has over 300, 000 downloads as of December 2018.
The bank has also reported a five percent growth in net profits and a six percent growth in its loan book. The bank’s interest income was largely fueled by treasury bonds which account for 21% of the revenue.
Equity Bank’s holdings of government securities now stand at Kshs. 161B at the close of 2018. Currently, government securities account for 54% of Equity Bank’s loan book.
In 2018, Our balance sheet grew to KES 573.4billion up from KES 524.5billion the previous year – Dr. James Mwangi #Equity2018FYResults pic.twitter.com/ySXipvw9O2
— Equity Bank Kenya (@KeEquityBank) March 26, 2019
According to James Mwangi, CEO, Equity Group:
“As a strategy, we now want to push lending to the private sector using innovative methods, which is why we have projected, whether interest rate capping is there or not, to grow the loan book by between 10 and 15 percent in 2019.”
The top 3 most profitable banks in Kenya for the 2018 FY profits stand as follows:
- Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) profits up by 21.8% to KSh 24B
- Equity Bank profits up by 5% to KSh 19.8B
- Cooperative Bank profits up by 11.6% to KSh 12.7B
Equity Bank is one of the few progressive Kenyan banks that offers customers digital banking and lending services. Its FinServe subsidiary recently launched a set of tools to enable a more seamless payment infrastructure that plugs into various financial services across the board.
It is also the one of the few banks that have enabled online digital money transfers with international players like PayPal and Visa which makes it very attractive to online freelancers and entrepreneurs in Kenya.
With the recent KCB 2018 FY results which revealed that 88% of all transactions are happening outside the branch, with mobile being key, it is clear that mobile has become a key channel for banks in revenue generation in Kenya.
