Equity Group Managing Director and CEO Dr James Mwangi./HANDOUT
Equity Bank has the largest branch network and the most insured deposits among Kenyan banks, according to the Central Bank of Kenya's Bank Supervision Annual Report 2025.
Equity Bank Kenya closed the year with 13.87 million deposit accounts.
That is the second-largest account base in the sector, behind NCBA's 36.31 million and ahead of KCB's 12.38 million. Equity's account count fell by 534,202 from 2024.
Equity now operates 216 branches, against 211 for KCB. No other bank has more than 184. Equity also holds the largest volume of insured deposits, at Sh179.7 billion, ahead of KCB's Sh157.7 billion.
Among Kenyan banks' regional subsidiaries, Equity Group is the largest employer. Its subsidiaries had 5,245 staff at the end of 2025, up from 5,008 a year earlier, compared with 3,978 at KCB Group.
The Democratic Republic of Congo is Equity's largest foreign market, with 2,199 employees. Uganda has 1,332 and Rwanda 1,010. CBK says the growth in subsidiary headcount across the sector was mainly driven by Equity's operations in Uganda and the DRC.
Equity's DRC unit, Banque Commerciale du Congo (BCDC), held Ksh 537.2 billion in deposits, or 29.3% of all deposits held by Kenyan banks' subsidiaries abroad. It generated 36.5% of those subsidiaries' profits.
In Kenya, Equity Bank's return on equity of 32.3% was the highest among the large banks, ahead of Absa at 32.0% and KCB at 28.4%. These figures cover the Kenyan bank only and exclude the regional subsidiaries.
Equity reported Sh84.7 billion in gross non-performing loans, down from Sh93.0 billion in 2024. KCB reported Sh192.8 billion, up from Sh176.8 billion. KCB's loan book is more than twice the size of Equity's, so the ratios are closer. Based on CBK's loan and NPL figures, they were about 18.3% for Equity and 19.0% for KCB. Equity's gross loans fell from Sh478.8 billion to Sh462.5 billion over the year.
Equity is a small player in residential mortgages. It holds 3.7% of the market, or Sh11.3 billion, down from 4.4% in 2024. KCB leads with 33.2%. Absa and Stanbic follow with 10.9% each.
While Equity leads on branches, insured deposits and regional jobs, the CBK data shows it trails KCB on most measures of size and profit.
By balance sheet, Equity remains second. KCB Bank Kenya leads with Sh1.50 trillion in total net assets, against Equity's Sh1.04 trillion.
The same order holds for deposits and lending. KCB holds Sh1.15 trillion in total deposits, compared with Equity's Sh849.2 billion. KCB's gross loans of Sh1.01 trillion are more than double Equity's Sh462.5 billion.
KCB also posted the highest pre-tax profit, at Sh63.69 billion. Equity was second at Sh44.03 billion.
Although Equity has the largest regional workforce, it ranks second for branches outside Kenya. KCB operates 239 cross-border branches to Equity's 186.
On core capital, KCB leads with Sh183.0 billion, followed by Co-operative Bank at Sh126.2 billion. Equity ranked third with Sh122.2 billion.
