Equity Bank Group has posted half year profit of Sh. 24 billion. This is after the group realized a growth in net profit of 35.4 per cent to Sh. 23.7 billion from Sh. 17.5 billion in the first six months of the current financial year.
This profit growth has been attributed to higher income in the period supported by renewed lending to the private sector and greater trade finance and forex trading.
“We are reassigning the investments that have been in government having dialed down the risk to private sector borrowing. We have dialed down the risks and opened the taps for lending,” said Equity Group chief executive officer Dr. James Mwangi.
How Equity grew from 12,000 to 15 million customers
“We have become a regional bank, not really from the number of subsidiaries we have but from the distribution of our balance sheet.”
During the period under review, Equity Bank’s net interest income rose the fastest at 27.6 per cent to Sh. 39.8 billion from Sh. 31.2 billion while non-funded income (NFI) rose by 24 per cent to Sh. 25.8 billion.
At the same time, total operating income rose by 26.4 per cent in the period to Sh. 65.6 billion from Sh. 51.9 billion.
The bank’s loan book in the period stretched to Sh. 650.6 billion from Sh. 504.8 billion in tandem Equity’s increased lending.
