When listed commercial banks in Kenya released their financial results for the second half of the current financial year, Simba once again proved why it is East Africa’s largest bank.
The KCB Group, popularly known as Simba, not only shook the market with the announcement of a record-breaking Sh4 per share interim dividend, but also produced fundamentals that entrenched its position as the top bank in the region. For instance, the bank as at the end of the June 30, 2025 held total assets amounting to Sh1.969 trillion. Its closest rival came in with assets amounting to Sh1.79 trillion.
An analysis on the financials of all the commercial banks that have been listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange further shows that the KCB Group emerged top in shareholder funds, net interest income and cost optimization.
For instance, the bank clocked in shareholder funds of Sh306.8 billion. This was equivalent to a growth of 27.3 percent. The lender’s closest rival came in with Shareholder funds amounting at Sh261 billion. In the same period the previous year, KCB Group’s shareholder funds had stood at Sh241 billion.
Between the first half of 2020 and the first half of 2025, the Group’s shareholder funds have grown by Sh174.7 billion from Sh132.1 billion. Between the first half of 2014 when shareholder funds stood at Sh64.9 billion, the funds have grown by Sh241.9 billion.
In the same vein, the bank has been leading the race in the amount of customer deposits it has been attracting. For instance, in the six month period to June this year, the bank’s customer deposits stood at Sh1.486 trillion. This was Sh167 billion more than the second largest bank which clocked in Sh1.319 trillion in customer deposits.
The bank’s growth is not about to stop. According to KCB Group’s Finance Director Lawrence Kimathi, the bank is looking to expand to the Ethiopian market.
“We have visited some banks and had conversations. The market is now open and the regulator is looking forward to the first entrant. If we get a good asset that is strategically and culturally aligned, we will be happy to be the first.,” he said.
“In Ethiopia, we intend to retain our model of universal banking, which places equal focus on both retail and corporate businesses to drive growth. We intend to have a heavy focus on digital because of the size of the country and the need to reach to customers who are spread far and wide and the best way to do that is digitally.”
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Already, KCB Group has operations in Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, South Sudan, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. These subsidiaries have proven to be a critical driver in the bank’s profitability and revenue growth.
In the first half of the financial year 2025, the Group’s subsidiaries outside KCB Bank Kenya continued to turn in stronger performance, with their profit before tax making up 33.4 percent of the overall Group earnings, and 31.4 percent of the balance sheet. The net profit from these subsidiaries was Sh9.81 billion which was equivalent to 32 percent of the total net profit of Sh31.5 billion.
The DRC operations returned a profit after tax of Sh4.8 billion while Rwanda and Tanzania returned profit after tax of Sh1.84 billion and Sh1.45 billion respectively. Uganda, South Sudan and Burundi returned 900 million, 420 million and 400 million respectively. The Kenyan operations, KCB Bank Kenya, led the pack with a net profit of Sh22.88 billion.
“We believe that the KCB story is not just about financial strength. It is about purpose resilience and leadership in shaping the future of East Africa,” says KCB Group chairman Dr. Joseph Kinyua.
