REPORT | Kenyan Banks Rake in Double Profits From Operations in Democratic Republic of Congo, Says CBK

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is now the most profitable market for subsidiaries of Kenyan banks within the East African Community (EAC) ahead of Rwanda.

🇰🇪 H1 2024 | #Kenyan Banks Post Profits

* KCB – 86% jump in profits YoY to $232.5 million
* I&M – 21% jump in profits YoY to $47.2 million
* Coop – 7% jump in profits YoY to $100.8 million
* NCBA – 5% jump in profits YoY to $76 million
* StanChart – 49% jump in profits YoY to… pic.twitter.com/aZfdAobyAs

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According to the Central Bank of Kenya’s (CBK) Bank Supervision Annual Report 2023, the pre-tax profit realized in the DRC market by subsidiaries of Kenyan banks more than doubled to KES 66.13 billion ($504.81 million) in 2023, from KES 32.51 billion ($248.17 million) in 2022.

Here is the breakdown of subsidiaries contributions as per the CBK report:

• The DRC market contributed the highest proportion of the total earnings by Kenyan banks’ regional subsidiaries, equivalent to 45.52 percent (KES 30 billion or $229 million).
• Rwanda – 20.89 percent
• Uganda – 13.45 percent of the total profits, while
• Tanzania – 8.53 percent
• South Sudan – 6.67 percent
• Mauritius – 3.40 percent
• Burundi – 1.56 percent

The Rwandan market had been Kenya’s profitable banking market from 2017 to 2022, while Tanzania and South Sudan topped the earnings list in 2016 and 2015 respectively, according to CBK data.

Kenyan banks first entered the Congolese banking market in 2016, when Equity Group acquired 86.6 percent stake in a German bank-ProCredit and renamed the subsidiary Equity Bank Congo (EBC) SA.