Equity Bank has reported a 4.5 per cent decline in its full year net profit for the financial year 2016. Its net profits stood at Sh. 16.6 billion.
Profit before tax for the bank, though, grew by 4 per cent to Sh. 24.9 billion from Sh. 24 billion.
The bank further reported a 5 per cent decline in loans for the 2016 financial year. Its non-performing loans stood at 6.8 per cent compared to the banking industry’s 11 per cent.
“We have a cost of risk that we cannot pass to the borrower and this is eating into bank’s profitability. The capping only withdrew the tool we use in the market, giving one price for all risks,” said James Mwangi the bank’s CEO.
The bank nonetheless announced that it will be maintaining a dividend of Sh. 2 per share.
Deposits in the bank grew by 11 per cent from Sh. 303 billion to Sh. 337 billion.
The bank’s merchant banking commission grew by 24 per cent from Sh. 891 million to Sh. 1.1 billion.
According to the bank, as at January 2017, its Eazzy Banking App had recorded over 160,000 downloads with over 10 million transactions that were valued at Sh. 6.8 billion.
During the financial year, its mobile platform Equitel had 227 million transactions while 62 million transactions were carried out through its agents.
24.8 million transactions were done through its ATMS, while 20.4 million transactions were carried out through the bank’s branches.