[2008-07-28]  Equity Bank’s half-year earnings touch Sh3 billion
Equity Bank has posted a 200 per cent rise in half-year profits on the back of improved growth.
The bank said its gross profits grew to Sh3.087 billion up from Sh1.037 billion during the period ended June 30.
Chief executive, James Mwangi said the performance was as a result of balanced growth, profitability and control systems.
He said the bank’s total assets grew to Sh72.5 billion up from Sh29.9 billion a growth of 143 per cent.
The trading results indicate that while the group’s total operating income increased by 156 per cent to Sh6.58 billion, overheads only increased by 128 per cent to reach Sh3.5 billion.
During the period the group consolidated loan book increased to Sh36.2 billion up from Sh14.3 billion, a growth of 153 per cent signifying deployment of the recent capital investment by Helios.
“In spite of the rapid growth, the bank sustained the quality of loan book with non-performing loans remaining at three per cent,” Mwangi said in the financial statement. Equity’s number of deposit accounts stood at 2,456,982 accounting for over 45 per cent of all deposit accounts in the banking industry while the number of loan accounts stood at 510,768.
The trading results show the bank’s liquidity remained strong at 56 per cent while the core capital to total deposits ratio stood at 33 per cent against a minimum legal requirement of eight per cent.
The bank announced its results on the heels of its celebrations after being named the Best Bank in Kenya by the prestigious Euromoney magazine for the second year in a row.
Last year’s award went to Equity Bank due to its efforts to encourage the unbanked to get involved with the banking sector.


Source: Standard