Equity’s Regional Expansion Bet Starts to Reshape Earnings map as H1 Profit Jumps 32pc

August 23, 2026 in Business, Companies, Financial Services, Trade & Industry by Editor

Equity Group released its Half-Year 2026 financial results on 19 August, reporting a strong 32% year-on-year increase in Profit After Tax to KSh45.5 billion, up from KSh34.6 billion. Profit Before Tax also increased by 39% to KSh57.8 billion, from KSh41.5 billion.

Equity Group’s 32pc jump in half-year profit to KSh45.5 billion was driven by stronger regional subsidiaries, loan growth, digital adoption and rising non-funded income.

 

Equity Group’s strategy of spreading its earnings base beyond Kenya is beginning to deliver measurable results, with stronger loan growth in East and Central Africa, rising non-funded income and deeper digital adoption combining to lift the lender’s half-year profit by 32pc.

The Group reported Profit After Tax of KSh45.5 billion for the six months to June 2026, up from KSh34.6 billion a year earlier, while Profit Before Tax rose 39% to KSh57.8 billion from KSh41.5 billion.

The results point to a financial institution increasingly deriving growth from the breadth of its regional operations rather than relying predominantly on its Kenyan franchise.

Net loans across the Group expanded 19pc year-on-year to KSh981 billion, with Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda among the strongest contributors. At the same time, customer deposits increased 21pc to KSh1.59 trillion, helping push the overall balance sheet 20pc higher to KSh2.16 trillion.

The regional subsidiaries now account for 42pc of the Group’s banking profitability and 52pc of banking revenue, while contributing 51pc of Group deposits, 54pc of loans and 52pc of banking assets.

The shift is particularly visible in Tanzania and the DRC, where Profit After Tax increased 82pc and 30pc respectively. Equity BCDC posted KSh11.8 billion in Profit After Tax, while Tanzania contributed KSh2 billion. Rwanda also recorded 12pc growth in Profit After Tax to KSh2.9 billion.

For Uganda, the development is significant because the country is among the markets identified by Equity as making a strong contribution to Group loan growth. It also reinforces the increasingly integrated nature of the bank’s East African operations, where growth in individual markets feeds into a broader regional earnings base.

Equity Bank Kenya, meanwhile, continued its recovery, with Profit After Tax rising 32pc to KSh25.7 billion. Its balance sheet grew 13pc, supported by a 24pc increase in customer deposits and 8pc growth in loans.

More significantly, the Kenyan bank recorded 11pc quarter-on-quarter loan growth, its first double-digit quarterly expansion since the third quarter of 2021, suggesting that the recovery in its core market is gaining traction alongside the Group’s regional expansion.

The earnings growth is also being supported by a changing revenue mix.

Non-funded income increased 36pc to KSh55.6 billion from KSh40.9 billion, raising its contribution to total Group income to 44.5pc, compared with 40.8pc in the first half of 2025.

That helped lift total income 25pc to KSh124.9 billion, while net interest income increased 17pc to KSh69.3 billion.

The shift towards non-funded income gives Equity a broader earnings base, reducing dependence on traditional interest income and reflecting the Group’s expansion into payments, insurance and other financial services.

Equity Insurance Group recorded a 24pc increase in gross written premiums to KSh6.4 billion, while Profit Before Tax rose 34pc to KSh1.25 billion. Insurance is consequently becoming a more material contributor to the Group alongside banking and payments.

Technology is reinforcing this diversification. Equity said 98.3pc of all transactions now take place outside branches, with 89.7pc processed through digital platforms.

The Group serves 23.3 million customers through its digital and physical ecosystem, including Equity Online, Eazzy FX, the Equity Mobile App, *247# and Equitel, alongside 410 branches, 886 ATMs, 92,572 agency outlets and 1.4 million merchants.

The digital shift is also changing the economics of the business. The Group’s cost-to-income ratio improved to 48.6pc from 51.7pc, which Equity attributed to productivity gains, shared services and increased migration of customers to digital channels.

At the same time, asset quality improved materially. Non-performing loans fell to 9.5pc from 13.7pc, while NPL coverage increased to 70pc from 68pc. Cost of risk also declined to 1.4pc from 1.7pc, with loan-loss provisions falling 6pc year-on-year.

The combination of stronger growth and better asset quality helped produce a 26.5pc return on equity and 4.5pc return on assets.

Equity Group Managing Director and CEO Dr James Mwangi said the performance reflected a multi-year transformation focused on resilience, diversification and technology enablement.

He said the Group’s operating environment remained supportive, with Kenya projected to grow by 4.5-5pc, DRC by 5.6pc, Tanzania by 5.9pc, Uganda by 6.4pc, Rwanda by 6.8pc and South Sudan by 20pc.

The broader economic outlook, however, is only part of the story. Equity’s half-year performance suggests that its expansion strategy is creating a more diversified financial institution in which regional markets, digital channels and non-banking businesses increasingly provide alternative sources of growth.

The Group is also investing in the capabilities needed to sustain that model. About 82pc of staff have completed a business-focused generative AI course, while 55pc have undertaken additional training through the Huawei ICT Academy. Staff completed 119,980 hours of guided AI instruction, while 406 employees were admitted to Masters programmes in Financial Engineering and Applied AI through WorldQuant University.

while the immediate result is stronger earnings, the longer-term consequence could be a less Kenya-dependent institution whose growth increasingly reflects the expansion of the wider African economies in which it operates.

That trajectory places the Group’s KSh45.5 billion half-year profit in a broader context where the earnings growth is not only a recovery story, but evidence that regional diversification, technology and a broader financial-services model are becoming increasingly central to Equity’s growth engine.