Kenya Commercial Bank has been ranked the highest in Kenya during the 2016 Financial Year followed by Co-operative Bank of Kenya according to the banking report released by Cytonn Investments.
According to the report, the Kenya’s listed banks recorded an anemic EPS growth in FY’2016 4.4 percent from 2.8 percent in 2015 on the back of structural challenges in the sector, especially on increased provisioning for non-performing loans and the enactment of the Banking Act (Amendment) 2015 that capped interest rates.
However, the macroeconomic environment in 2016 remained stable as evidenced by:
- Low interest rates for the 91-day T-bill rates, which declined to 7.9 percent compared to its 5-year historical average of 9.9 percent
- Stable inflation rate of 6.3 percent within the government target of 2.5%-7.5%,
- Stable currency, with the Kenyan shilling shedding only 0.1 percent against the dollar
- Stable GDP growth coming in at 5.7 percent as at Q3’2016.
Below is how the banks ranked for the first eleven:
According to the report, the consolidation in the banking sector continued to gather pace, with weaker banks being forced to merge or be acquired. Also, foreign entities are increasingly seeking to enter the Kenyan banking sector, highlighting the attractive investment opportunity in the financial services sector in the country.
Most of the banks that released their 2016 financial year results registered a drop in profits in what most of them blamed it on the prevailing interest capping law.