KCB Bank has become East Africa’s leading bank position, beating its rival, Equity Bank.
This is after the lender recorded a 54 percent growth in assets to Kes 1.86 trillion in the year ending June, 2023attributted to the consolidation of Trust Merchant Bank (TMB), acquired in December 2022, and an increase in customer deposits to Kes 1.47 trillion.
The growth is compared to the Kes 1.5 trillion recorded by the Bank in the half-year to June 2022.
Equity Bank now trails KCB Group after it reported Kes 1.63 trillion in total assets from six months to June 2023.
Group CEO Paul Russo said the business remained resilient, delivering a strong balance sheet and increased contributions from regional businesses despite a challenging economic environment across their operating markets.
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“Profitability was under pressure in the first half from increased funding costs on higher market deposits rates, prudent provisioning on legacy credit facilities, and provisions for legacy legal claims at NBK,” Russo said.
Customer deposits increased by 61.9 percent due to TMB consolidation, outpacing the loan book's 32 percent growth to Kes 730.3 billion.
As a result, revenue increased by 22.2 percent during the review period, reaching Kes 73.1 billion.
The bank's profit after tax, which fell to Kes 16.1 billion, was negatively impacted by inherited litigation claims in KCB Kenya and personnel restructuring, among other things.
