Equity Group Holdings Limited

Overview

EGHL is a large financial services conglomerate. As of 30 June 2015, it had estimated assets exceeding US$3.855 billion (KES:400.993 billion) and estimated shareholders' equity of more than US$624.875 million (KES:64.996 billion). EGHL has a customer base exceeding 10 million in the six African countries it serves, making it the largest commercial bank on the African continent by customer numbers.

In June 2008, EGHL was voted by Euromoney Awards for Excellence as the best bank in Kenya. EGHL was named the overall best bank in Kenya at the Renaissance Capital Bank Awards in August 2008 and was cited locally as the only stock that returned positive shareholder value during 2008 at the Nairobi Stock Exchange. EGHL was named as the Best Performing Company in Africa during the annual African Investor Index Awards, held on 21 September 2009, in New York City. EGHL has exclusive rights to issue American Express credit cards across the African continent outside South Africa.

History

EGHL was founded in Kenya, the largest economy in the East African Community, as the Equity Building Society (EBS) in October 1984. EBS was originally a provider of mortgage financing for customers in the low income population. Also because of its rural banking orientation, promotion of agribusiness is a significant and strategic intervention by the bank. By September 2015, Equity Bank had more than 9.2 million customers. The Banker listed Equity Bank among the Top 1,000 Banks in the World with the highest return on assets in the African continent, generating a rate of 6.84 per cent on assets employed.

Prior to November 2014, Equity Bank was both a licensed bank and a holding company for its subsidiaries. On 31 October 2014, Equity Bank Group announced its intention to incorporate a new wholly owned subsidiary, Equity Bank (Kenya) Limited, to which it would transfer its Kenyan banking business, assets and liabilities. The rationale for the re-organisation is that by converting Equity Bank into a non-trading holding company that owns both banking and non-banking subsidiary companies and provides strategic, brand, risk and talent management to its subsidiaries, the Group will be better placed to invest and to develop the existing and new businesses as part of its third phase of growth and transformation. These resolutions were all adopted during an extraordinary shareholders general meeting held on 24 November 2014 leading to the formation of Equity Bank Kenya Limited.

In September 2015, the group completed its acquisition of 79 percent of DR Congo based ProCredit Bank Congo SARL from Procredit Group. This acquisition marked the group's entry into sub-Saharan Africa’s third most populous country.

Ownership

The stock of Equity Group Holdings Limited is traded on the Nairobi Securities Exchange, under the symbol: EQTY. On Thursday 18 June 2009, the Group's stock cross listed on the Uganda Securities Exchange and started trading that day, under the symbol: EBL. As of January 2015, shareholding in the group's stock was as depicted in the table below:

Board of directors

The following are the board members of Equity Group Holdings Limited, as of 22 October 2016.

1. Peter Munga, CBS, Chairman
2. James Mwangi, CBS Managing Director & CEO
3. Benson Wairegi, EBS, non-executive Vice-chairman
4. Temitope Lawani
5. Bhartesh Shah
6. Fredrick Muchokir
7. Ernest Nzovu
8. Babatunde Soyoye
9. Shem Migot-Adholla
10. Helen Gichohi, OGW, MBS
11. David R. Ansell
12. Alykhan Nathoo
13. Dennis Aluanga
14. John Staley
15. Elizabeth Lwanga
16. Mary Wamae, Company secretary

Member companies

The companies that compose the Equity Group Holdings Limited include but are not limited to the following:

1. Equity Bank Kenya Limited – Nairobi, Kenya – 100% Shareholding – A commercial bank in Kenya, serving individuals and businesses.
2. Equity Bank Rwanda Limited – Kigali, Rwanda – 100% Shareholding – A commercial bank in Rwanda, serving both individuals and businesses.
3. Equity Bank South Sudan Limited – Juba, South Sudan – 100% Shareholding – A commercial bank in South Sudan.
4. Equity Bank Tanzania Limited – Dar es Salaam, Tanzania – 100% Shareholding – A commercial bank in Tanzania.
5. Equity Bank Uganda Limited – Kampala, Uganda – 100% Shareholding – A commercial bank in Uganda.
6. ProCredit Bank Congo SARL – Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo – 79% Shareholding – A commercial bank in DR Congo.
7. Equity Consulting Group Limited – Nairobi, Kenya
8. Equity Insurance Agency Limited – Nairobi, Kenya – 100% Shareholding – The insurance agency arm of the group. Offering bancassurance services to customers
9. Equity Nominees Limited – Nairobi, Kenya – 100% Shareholding – A Nominee company. Holding investments on behalf of customers.
10. Equity Investment Bank Limited – Nairobi, Kenya – 100% Shareholding – An investment bank in Kenya. A member of the Nairobi Securities Exchange and licensed by the Capital Markets Authority.
11. Finserve Africa Limited – Nairobi, Kenya – 100% Shareholding – A mobile virtual network operator(MVNO) in the Kenya.
12. Equity Group Foundation – Nairobi, Kenya – 100% Shareholding – The philanthropy and corporate social responsibility arm of the group.