Equity Bank announces 29 percent growth

Equity Bank has announced a 29 percent growth in pre-tax profit to Sh3.73 billion for the first quarter of 2012, attributed to an increase in the bank's loan book and greater focus on product development, credit and risk management.

The Kenya based bank which also operates in Uganda and has branches in other East African Countries of Tanzania, South Sudan and Rwanda reported loan book growth of 41 percent to KSh121.1 billion.

The bank's total income rose 38 percent to Sh9.01 billion from Sh6.52 billion.

Customer deposits grew by 34 percent to close at Sh153.68 billion up from Sh115.07 billion and the customer base grew by more than 1.3 million to over 7.5 million customers, making it the largest bank in customer base in Africa.


Equity also announced that it no longer needs fixed assets such as Land Rovers and security needed years ago to transport rural customers to branches and the bank is now utilizing mobile technology, which is owned by the customer, to make transactions from agents countrywide.