Equity Group has reported a 171 percent jump in digital payments in the first quarter of 2023, boosted by the shift to digital money transfers accelerated by the coronavirus pandemic.

Digital payments made during the period hit Sh 54.2 billion, up from Sh 20 billion. The highest transactions were realized in the mobile and internet banking platforms, whose volumes grew by 270 percent to 1,336.3 million transactions, up from 361.6 million transactions.

“The COVID environment acted as a tailwind for digital transactions adoption by our customers, and we have emerged out of the 3-year pandemic period as a strong digital business,’’ Equity Group Managing Director and CEO Dr. James Mwangi said.

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Transactions via the bank’s digital payments platform, Pay with Equity (PwE) also increased significantly to 48.3 million transactions up from 14.1 million transactions.

The group reported a transaction income growth of 73% to Sh4,119.6 million, up from Sh 2,388 million. Digital transactions grew by 23.3% to Sh 2,288.8 billion from Sh  1,856.6 billion.

In the three months of 2023, the Group registered a Profit After Tax growth of 8% to Sh 12.8 billion, up from Sh 11.9 billion, despite the challenging macroeconomic operating environment characterized by the high inflation and the weakening Kenya Shillings.

Equity’s impressive growth in profits was helped by strong growth in non-funded income, which grew 57 percent to Sh 18 billion from Sh 11.5b billion.

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Total income grew to Sh 39.7 billion, up from Sh 30.9 billion, as a result of slow growth in interest income of Sh 32.4 billion, up from Sh 26.7 billion.

The lender recorded a 21% increase in total assets amounting to Sh 1.54 trillion during the period. Customer deposits grew to Sh 1,111.2 billion, up from Sh 900.9 billion, while the loan book grew to Sh. 756.3 billion, up from Sh. 623.6 billion.