Kenya’s two largest banks, Equity Group and KCB Group, accounted for about Sh100 billion of the total net profit that Kenyan banks recorded in the third quarter of the 2025 financial year.
When paired in a head-to-head profitability race, in the third financial quarter, Equity Group emerged as the most profitable bank in Kenya. The bank returned a Sh54.1 billion net profit for the first nine months of the year while KCB returned a Sh47.6 billion net profit in the same period. Equity’s net profit from banking alone came in at Sh53.3 billion. This represented a year on year growth of 37 percent.
Among Equity’s subsidiaries, Equity Bank Kenya led in profitability after contributing 58.3 percent of the total group’s profit. On the other end, KCB Group subsidiaries contributed 35 percent of profit before tax and 31.3 percent of assets.
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Outside banking, Equity Group saw its health insurance arm Equity Health Insurance return a profit of Sh140 million. At KCB, non-banking subsidiaries were led by KCB Bancassurance unit which returned a 16 percent growth to Sh833 million, followed by KCB Investment Bank at Sh230 million and KCB Asset Management at Sh118 million.
KCB’s total assets ended the period under review at Sh2.04 trillion while Equity Bank’s total assets in the period increased by 6.7 percent to Sh1.8 trillion.
Customer deposits at Equity closed the nine-month period at Sh1.34 trillion while these were at Sh1.52 trillion at KCB Group. Net interest income increased by 16.1 percent to Sh93.3 billion at Equity and at KCB, it came in at Sh104.3 billion. On the other end, non-interest income at KCB was at Sh45.1 billion and Sh62.7 billion at Equity Bank.
Total revenue grew by 4.5 percent at KCB to Sh149.4 billion, buoyed by a 12.4 percent rise in net interest income. Equity on the other end returned Sh156.3 billion in total revenue.
Equity Bank had total operating income of Sh156.3 billion while KCB had Sh149.4 billion. On operating expenses, Equity’s came in at Sh90.7 billion while at KCB, this figure was Sh87.3 billion in the period.
Loans disbursed by Equity Group increased by 7.5 percent to Sh859 .8 billion. In the same period, KCB Group disbursed loans and advances amounting to Sh1.13 trillion.
At Equity, the non-performing loans stood at Sh129.2 billion while at KCB, they stood at Sh222.1 billion. Equity had a loan to deposit ratio of 64 percent while KCB recorded a 75 percent.
On the Nairobi Securities Exchange, Equity shares traded at an average price of Sh63 per piece as at the end of trading on December 1. On the same day, KCB shares closed at trading at an average price of Sh58 per share.
