Equity Group’s bold purge is a watershed moment for African banking

June 14, 2025 in Business, Companies, Editorial, Opinion, Trade & Industry by Editor

In an industry steeped in secrecy and risk aversion, Equity Group’s decision to publicly clean house stands as a defining moment — a bold and necessary inflection point for East African banking. Dr. James Mwangi, the Group CEO, has chosen to confront a deeply entrenched culture of impunity head-on, sending home over 1,200 employees in Kenya and initiating a similar process across the Group’s seven subsidiaries, including Uganda. It is a purge not driven by cost-cutting, but by principle — and that is what makes it revolutionary.

For too long, African banking has been dogged by quiet corruption. Well-dressed, credentialed professionals have abused customer trust, distorted internal processes, and undermined national development goals — all while hiding behind institutional walls. The victims? Millions of low-income customers already burdened by punitive lending rates, opaque user fees, and sluggish service. The result? An industry losing public confidence, even as it remains indispensable to economic life.

Equity Bank, long seen as an innovator and champion of the underserved, is returning to its founding ethos. By openly acknowledging and addressing internal rot, Mwangi is making a bet — not just on operational integrity, but on the long-term credibility of the institution. This is not merely a clean-up; it is a cultural reset.

Critics — including those within the industry — have decried the transparency of the purge as reckless. They argue that in banking, discretion is paramount. Any indication of instability, they say, invites reputational risk. But such thinking has long been the excuse used to shield misconduct. When concealment becomes policy, malfeasance festers. Dr. Mwangi’s refusal to play by those rules is not naivety; it is leadership.

Banking is indeed a conservative profession, built on caution and the sanctity of customer trust. But trust must be earned — and re-earned — through action, not just branding. The current exercise is being executed with respect for natural justice, thorough auditing, and a chance for employees to explain themselves. Those exonerated are retained. Those found culpable — whether for extortion, negligence, or professional misconduct — are let go.

The approach has already started to yield reputational dividends. In Kenya, customers have welcomed the clean-up, seeing in it a rare instance of a major corporation putting the public interest ahead of corporate optics. In Uganda, where the next phase of the audit is under way, early indicators suggest the process is being handled with fairness and dignity — a point not lost on staff who recognise the institutional values Equity Bank stands for.

The real story here is not about mass firings. It is about realigning banking with its ethical core. The “bad apples” narrative risks obscuring the fact that the industry’s tolerance for ethical slippage has for years undermined the promise of financial inclusion. Dr. Mwangi’s action is a call to rethink that tolerance — and to reconsider what leadership in banking should look like.

Equity Group’s decision will likely inspire discomfort among its peers. Few will admit it, but many fear the precedent being set: that transparency, long treated as a liability, can in fact be an asset. If other financial institutions follow suit — even quietly — this may be the beginning of a long overdue transformation in East African finance.

In the end, Equity’s approach reminds us of something essential: institutions are only as ethical as the people who run them. In cleansing its ranks, Equity Bank is reaffirming its social contract with its customers — and reminding us that banking, done right, is not just about money. It’s about trust.