Equity Bank has posted an 18 per cent increase in profit before tax for the third quarter of 2016. The bank posted a profit of Sh. 21.5 billion as at September 2016 from Sh. 18.2 billion in September 2015.
During the period, the bank increased its deposits by 20 per cent, shifting its contribution to the group from 69.5 per cent in Q3 2015 to 80.1 per cent in Q3 2016.
The bank recorded an increased growth on its mobile platform Equitel. Between April and June, Equitel moved Sh. 139 billion. This saw the bank capture 15 per cent of the mobile money market.
“Loans disbursed through Equitel as at end of Sept 2016 stood at 4.5million against a count of 846,000 loans disbursed through the branch,” said Equity Bank CEO James Mwangi.
This was equivalent to Sh. 36 billion from Sh. 1.6 billion recorded in September 2015.
In the same vein, total deposits for Equity Group grew from Sh. 317 billion in Sept 2015 to Sh. 331.4 billion in Sept 2016. “Gross loans for the Group grew from Sh. 274.9 billion to Sh. 282.9 billion between Sept 2015 to Sept 2016,” said Dr. Mwangi.
Additionally, interest income grew by 26 per cent to Sh. 39.8 billion while interest expense grew by 25 per cent to Sh. 7.5 billion as at Q3 2016.
