Kenya’s KCB Group and Equity Group have been recognised as some of the top banks in Africa, showcasing strong financial performance while dealing with growing non-performing loans.
The rankings, released by The Banker, a Financial Times publication, placed KCB third on the continent and Equity fifth. Banks were assessed across multiple criteria, including tier one capital, profitability, growth, liquidity, operational efficiency, return on risk, and asset quality.
Both Kenyan banks performed impressively in almost all areas, with asset quality, reflecting the proportion of bad loans to total lending, being the only notable concern. The measure also takes into account the loan loss provisions relative to the bank’s earnings.
“We have developed a model that scores and ranks banks in eight key performance categories, using 17 ratios, and assigns an overall best-performing bank score and ranking,” explained The Banker. The ranking system relies entirely on performance ratios and yearly changes, meaning that a bank’s size does not affect its position in the list.
Nigeria’s Guaranty Trust Bank, which also has branches in Kenya, topped the ranking, followed by Capitec Bank of South Africa in second place.
Egypt’s Commercial International Bank, which entered the Kenyan market in 2023 after acquiring Mayfair Bank, came fourth.
KCB and Equity outperformed larger banks in several ratios, showing that financial efficiency can outweigh sheer size.
In terms of tier one capital, KCB jumped from 22nd to 13th place after posting a 54.9 per cent increase in dollar terms, while Equity climbed from 19th to 15th with a 38.4 per cent increase.
Equity was also recognised as the fastest-growing bank on the continent, scoring 8.31 out of 10 in growth metrics that cover assets, loans, deposits, and operating income.
KCB ranked second in soundness and leverage measures. Soundness assesses the bank’s capital relative to its loans, while leverage compares total deposits against total loans.
As of June 2025, KCB held Sh189.1 billion in non-performing loans, or 17.2 per cent of its Sh1.09 trillion loan book, with Sh12.4 billion in loan loss provisions.
Equity recorded Sh71.2 billion in non-performing loans, representing 17.5 per cent of its Sh406.8 billion loan book, and made Sh7.3 billion in provisions.
Kenya’s banking sector continues to face pressure from rising bad loans, forcing banks to set aside large sums in provisions, which affects overall profitability.
Nevertheless, KCB and Equity’s strong rankings demonstrate their ability to maintain solid financial health and efficiency amid industry-wide challenges.
