Equity Group Defies COVID-19 Impacts and Registers 51% Balance Sheet Growth Customer Deposits grow by 53%;
Loans to Customers grow by 30%;
Acquisition, merger, integration and rebranding of BCDC
Profit before provisions grows by 30%;
Raises provisions by Kshs 26.6 billion to increase NPL coverage to 89.4%, and;
Records a Kshs 20.1 billion profit after tax, a decline of 11% YOY.
Nairobi, Kenya…29 th March 2021… The year 2020 was like no other. COVID-19 struck at the beginning of the year and the East Africa region had its first case of infection in early March. The global spread of the virus quickly became a pandemic. To comply with the World Health Organization’s prevention protocols, restrictions put in place including limitations on movement and travel, social distancing, and constrained interactions resulted in economic slowdowns which in turn caused global supply chain disruptions due to interruptions of production, distribution, and a reduction of economic activities. By April, the health pandemic had turned into an economic crisis with lost lives and livelihoods resulting into a dilapidating humanitarian crisis characterized by lost jobs, unemployment, lost investments, hunger, poverty, human misery, unhappiness, fear and uncertainty.
Releasing 2020 Full Year results, Equity Group Managing Director and CEO Dr. James Mwangi said, ‘The previous global pandemic was the Spanish Flu which occurred in 1919, a century back, and hence the world had lost its memory and had to re-learn, adapt and adjust making 2020 an exceedingly difficult and challenging year. Our corporate purpose of ‘ Transforming lives, giving dignity and expanding opportunities for wealth creation’ became the guiding compass of the organization’s essence on how to navigate through the crisis and the challenging environment. Our results and performance became a human story of resilience and determination to live an ethical human purpose.’
The 2020 results reflect a purpose lived and a management team uniquely differentiated by the decisions it made. From the onset, Equity Group management opted to safeguard and cushion the lives of staff, clients, and host communities by supporting lives and livelihoods through maintaining economic activities to keep the lights of the economies on and boosting Government efforts with Kshs 4 billion initiatives. Interventions included;
> Waiving mobile charges of Kshs 1.2 billion to enhance households’ disposable incomes while at the same time sensitizing clients to adopt mobile, digital, and online banking, in compliance with health protocols of reduced mobility, […]