Equity Banque Commercial du Congo is set to be the second largest bank in Democratic Republic of Congo with a Balance Sheet of 2.5billion dollars. This comes after the regulatory approval allowing the merger of Equity Bank Congo and Banque Commercial du Congo.
Equity Bank currently has operations in Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, South Sudan, DRC and a commercial representative office in Ethiopia, with over 14 million customers across the region.
Equity made its entry in the DRC through Equity Bank Congo, which re-named after the acquisition of 86 percent shareholding of ProCredit Bank between 2015 and 2017.
However having attained regulatory approval to merge Equity Bank Congo and Banque Commercial du Congo, Equity Group Holdings Ltd will become the Democratic Republic of Congo’s second biggest foreign bank second to Rawbank, which had an asset base of $2.1 billion as at December last year.
Post merger, Equity Group holds 77.5% in Equity BCDC with the remainder being held by IFC, the Government of DRC and minority shareholders.
Bank branches and other outlets of both Equity Bank Congo and BCDC will re-brand to Equity BCDC.
According to Equity Group CEO James Mwangi, Equity BCDC had acquired the size and countrywide infrastructure, experience and capability to contribute significantly to the transformation of lives and livelihoods in DRC, while stimulating economic transformation of the country through resource allocation.
He further noted that IFC’s global brand will help Equity Bank to attract international capital to support its lending business in the DRC.
