Equity Q3 Net Profit: Equity Bank Group has posted a net profit of Sh. 26.3 billion in the nine month period of its current financial year. During the period under review, total operating income expanded by 25.6 per cent to Sh. 80.5 billion from Sh. 64.1 billion in September 2020.
The growth in operating income was anchored on a 24 per cent growth in interest income to Sh. 44.9 billion while non-interest funded income grew by a higher 39 per cent to reach Sh. 31.4 billion.
Equity’s total operating expenses dropped by 3.3 per cent to Sh. 43.8 billion from Sh. 45.3 billion a year ago. The fall in expenses was greatly anchored on a reduction in loan-loss provisioning by 65.5 per cent to Sh. 5.1 billion from Sh. 14.8 billion last year.
The drop in the loan defaults was supported by an improved asset quality in the bank which saw its ratio of non-performing loans (NPLs) fall to 8.9 per cent from a higher 10.4 per cent previously.
Equity Group’s asset base grew by 27 per cent over the past year to hit Sh. 1.184 trillion and comprised Sh. 559 billion in customer net loans. Customer deposits expanded to Sh. 873.7 billion.
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“We have been tried and tested over the last two years during the 2020 pandemic. Our value has been optimized by putting people first. With the country now open, we can say that the pandemic is now normalized and we have adapted to the pandemic,” Equity Bank chief executive officer James Mwangi said. “We are now warehousing our growth in the period, ready to unleash it in the economy. The Group further chose to keep the lights on for the economy during the pandemic.”
Dr. Mwangi added that the bank was witnessing a rise in the usage of digital banking. 74 per cent of the bank’s transactions are now cashless. The share of ATMs, over the counter (OTC) transactions and agency banking have also fallen to 11 and 16 per cent respectively. “Every cloud has a silver lining. It would have taken years to move customers to digital transactions,” said Dr. Mwangi.
