EQUITY Group has been named the Best Regional Bank in East Africa by the 2021 African Banker Awards thanks to strong and consistent financial performance plus pioneering technological innovations.
The award was conferred to the lender, one of the largest in the region with a subsidiary in Tanzania, for also its consistency in championing the socio-economic development of communities through its various social impact initiatives.
Equity Group Managing Director and CEO, Dr James Mwangi said they are honoured and humbled to receive the recognition and was a testament to the success of their digital strategy and regional presence that continued to drive financial integration.
“We purposed to walk and support our customers, staff, and host communities during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We waived mobile transaction charges, loan rescheduling fees, accommodated and restructured customers’ loans beyond regulatory timelines,” Dr Mwangi said in a release.
The Group has banking subsidiaries in Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and DRC and a representative office in Ethiopia with an asset base of over 11 billion US dollars. Equity was nominated for the Best Bank in Financial Inclusion Award category for its commendable role in delivering financial products and services to all in society including those at the bottom of the pyramid.
Omar Ben Yedder, Group Publisher of African Banker said he was impressed by the entries this year that showed that the banking sector is healthy and resilient, which will be critical if it is to support the economic recovery post-Covid-19.
“What will be fundamental to our recovery is the support of the real economy, especially SMEs, and also a focus on more equity investments and investments in general,” Mr Yedder said.
The African Banker Awards had earlier nominated Equity in two additional award categories including the nomination of Group MD and CEO Dr James Mwangi as the African Banker of the Year.
Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, Equity demonstrated strong and consistent financial performances in all of its subsidiary countries with improvements in revenue, profits, capital, assets and market share.
Notably, in the full last year results, the Group weathered the Covid-19 disruption to register a 51per cent growth in its balance sheet with total assets growing to 9.48 billion US dollars up from 6.73 billion US dollars in 2019.