Equity Group has become the Kenyan lender with the largest cross-border workforce, employing 5,245 staff in its regional subsidiaries. This makes it the largest among Kenyan lenders, with KCB Group coming in second with 3,978 employees. The significant workforce expansion reflects Equity's broader Pan-African strategy, particularly its focus on the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Democratic Republic of Congo has emerged as Equity's largest cross-border labour market, accounting for 2,199 of these employees. Uganda follows with 1,332 staff, while Rwanda accounts for 1,010. I&M Group ranked third in overall regional employment with 1,531 employees. This expansion highlights a fundamental shift in regional banking, where deploying human capital is increasingly becoming key to capturing largely unbanked, resource-rich markets.
Equity's DRC unit, Banque Commerciale Du Congo (BCDC), holds Ksh 537.2 billion in deposits, representing 29.3% of all deposits held by Kenyan bank subsidiaries abroad. Furthermore, BCDC generated 36.5% of the overall regional profits. This performance helped Equity deliver a Return on Equity (ROE) of 32.3% in 2025, the highest among the country's large peer-group banks.
The regional earnings boost helped consolidate Equity's position as the country's second-largest lender by assets. The bank held an 11.8% composite market share index, while its share of industry total net assets alone stood at 12.5%. It remains one of only two banks in the country with a balance sheet crossing the trillion-shilling mark.
Equity closed the year with total net assets of Ksh.1.04 trillion and Ksh.849.1 billion in customer deposits. In a year characterised by a challenging macroeconomic environment and elevated credit risks, Equity demonstrated prudent credit risk management. The lender closed the year with gross loans of Ksh.462.4 billion.
Equity's stock of gross non-performing loans (NPLs) stood at Ksh.84.6 billion, compared to KCB's Ksh.192.7 billion in bad loans. Domestically, Equity continues to leverage its human and physical infrastructure to dominate the retail segment, operating a sector-leading 216 physical branches and 13.86 million deposit accounts.
Despite its extensive footprint, Equity's participation in the mortgage market remains muted, holding a 3.7% market share in residential mortgages (Ksh.11.3 billion). As Kenyan banks look beyond borders to offset domestic macroeconomic headwinds, the scale of regional operations continues to grow, requiring significant investments in talent.
Key points
- Equity Group's regional workforce has surpassed 5,200 employees.
- The Democratic Republic of Congo is Equity's largest cross-border labour market.
- Equity delivered a Return on Equity (ROE) of 32.3% in 2025.
