Meet East Africa's financial behemoths

EGHL Headquarters

 Four years after a spree of Mergers and Acquisitions, the two leading Kenyan banks dominate the financial market in the East Africa Common Market region. The two, KCB Group and Equity Holdings Group Plc boast a whopping capital base worth KES 3.42 trillion( US$ 23.5 billion).

 KCB claims the top perch with a capital base of 1.86 trillion(US$12.75 billion) as at the end of June 2023 while Equity boasts 1.56 trillion($10.7 billion) at the current rates, over the same period.

 So dominant are the two that they dwarf their local competitors. For instance, NCBA Group which ranks third among the first-tier banks in Kenya, at a capital base of KES 660 billion, is less than half the wealth of the Equity Group and just about a third of KCB group’s wealth. So large is their wealth that they stand neck on neck with the GDP of some smaller countries in the region. 

KCB Group Headquarters

For instance, KCB Group's capital base could hit the US$13 billion mark at the end of this year which will be nearly 87 percent of Rwanda’s GDP projected at $14 billion this year. Equity Holdings Group too is not far behind. Its wealth could cross the US$12,5 billion mark this year, pushing its way to nearly 80  percent of Rwanda's GDP.

 The other banks in the top tier in Kenya are NCBA Group (KES 660 billion), Co-op Bank Group ( 597 billion), DTB Bank (579 billion and I$M Bank group (503 billion). These are at par with the top banks in Tanzania namely CRDB ($4.66 bn) and NMB ($4.166bn).

 These acquisitions have placed the Kenyan financial market firmly in the hands of indigenous banks. Local banks have swiftly shunted local branches of Multinational Banks, such as Barclays Bank and Standard Chartered Bank to the lower ranks of dominance in the local and regional financial markets. These are now the fifth and sixth largest banks in Kenya, having ceded their leadership perch to four locally incorporated banks. 

 In 2019 when the marriages were consummated, the KCB group boasted of total assets estimated at $8.6 billion after absorbing the National Bank of Kenya. Equity Bank Group’s capital base then stood at US$6.38 billion. The Kenyan banks are present in more than five countries apiece including the mineral-rich Democratic Republic Of Congo. 

Equity has acquired a controlling stake in two major banks namely Banque Commerciale Du Congo, BCDC which was worth $700 million in 2019. Earlier in 2015 it ProCredit Bank. KCB too bought a bank in DRC last year.

 The fast growth in the financial market is not confined to Kenyan behemoths. The sector is growing equally fast in Tanzania where the top two banks have doubled their assets in four years. The largest Tanzanian bank, CRDB, has seen its wealth double in four years from $2.52 billion to @ 4.663 billion last year. Its closest competitor, NMB Bank has also posted a similar growth trajectory from $2.36 billion in 2019 to $4.166 in 2022.