Lender Equity Bank has released its Q3 2019 performance report, which, as it has been the case in previous quarters, cites improved business environment in the country, as well as strong private-sector consumption, to mention a few, for the bank’s growth in non-funded income portfolio that contributed 41 per cent of the bank’s earnings.
“At 41% against an industry average of 37%, it is a reflection that the bank is fully committed to enhancing the quality of earnings, and with the payments systems we aim at growing this income to above 50%,” says Dr. Mwangi, CEO Equity.
The report further reveals Equity’s bet on digital services: the number of transactions that went through the bank’s Eazzy app and sim tool kit grew 18 percent compared to the same period in 2018; and agency banking, which comes second after Safaricom’s M-PESA agency by numbers increased by 14 percent between Q3 2018 and Q3 2019.
Furthermore, agency banking processed 68.5 million transactions in the quarter, a marked improvement over the 60.1 million transactions that were performed in Q3 2018. The highest number of transactions were processed by Eazzy App at 231.2 million. Excellent numbers were also handled by Equitel (STK) at 198.5 million in the same quarter.
However, agency banking recorded the highest transaction value at KES 579.8 billion, followed by Equitel at KES 459.8 billion.
“This signals a consolidation of banking all the way to the customer level, and as evidenced by the performance, our customers appreciate the convenience of the self-service platforms,” adds Dr. Mwangi.
Very few customers are using the bank’s ATMs, which have since been upgraded to modern machines.
Lastly, Equity customers are using mobile platforms to access loans at 93 percent compared to branch lending at 7 percent. However, the transaction value of mobile credit constitutes 21 percent of disbursed funds because branches, as always, are handling high-value transactions for corporates, SMEs and wealth management firms.
