KCB Group Leads in Banks by Assets Based on 2018 Financials

Banking institutions in Kenya and all over the world are indispensable to the economy as well as the financial position of a country. They provide lending and savings opportunities including other important services to individuals and corporate entities.

Banks continue growing their assets as the economy expands and despite the often-experienced unfavorable and harsh operating environment, others are beating the odds to stay at the top.

Over the past two years, things have been challenging for Kenyan banks especially since the introduction of the new cap in lending. However, this has not stopped them from making profits. In fact, the capping of interest only affected their loan books since banks refrained from lending to SMEs and individuals citing high risk.

This means that despite the tighter lending environment, banks have found alternative routes and sources of revenue.

The banks have adopted smart and digital ways of reaching out to the customer through new channels.

Banks in the country, however, have taken advantage of the relatively robust growth despite challenges posed by the interest rate framework. Even though more regulatory challenges still remain, other banks are still expanding their asset base.

The power in banking in Kenya is unquestionably shifting towards Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) whose asset base surpasses that of all other banks in the country. It ranks as the first bank in Kenya by assets.

KCB’s full-year results for 2018 showed that its asset base stood at 714.31 billion shillings, a 10.5 percent growth from the 2017/2018 financial year.

Read KCB Registers 24 Billion Shillings in Profits for 2018

Although by holding the top financial position by assets doesn’t mean it has the highest concentration of wealth, it shows that a lot of the country’s wealth flowing through the bank.

In second place is Equity Bank, which, according to its 2018 full year financial results, its asset base stood at 573.38 billion shillings.

Read Equity Bank Registers Ksh.19.8 Billion Profit After Tax

This was a notable increase from the 2017 full year financials where the balance sheet registered 524.5 billion shillings. According to the bank, the growth was due to its commitment “pursuing to navigate the headwinds of the slow growth rate of the private sector credit.”

In the third position is the merger between NIC Bank and Commercial Bank of Africa (CBA) which brings the total assets of the consolidated bank to 444 billion shillings since NIC Bank posted 208.50 billion shillings as CBA registered 242.56 billion shillings in their balance sheets as evidenced by the 2018 financial results.

In the fourth position is the Co-operative Bank of Kenya with assets worth 413.41 billion shillings as of 2018. Diamond Trust Bank comes in fifth with assets worth 377.72 billion ahead of Barclays Bank with an asset base of 324.84 billion shillings.

See Also:

• Co-operative Bank Defies Odds to Register KSh.12.7 Billion Profit After Tax
• Growth in Total Income Pushes Barclays Bank Profit After Tax to KSh.7.4 Bn

The CFC Stanbic Bank makes it to the 7^th position with 290.57 billion shillings worth of assets followed by the Standard Chartered Bank whose assets stood at 285.40 billion at the end of the 2018 financial results.

The rest of the banks that follow the Standard Chartered Bank according to the 2018 financials (unless otherwise indicated) are as follows. The asset base amount is in shillings.

9. I&M Bank – 230.29 billion
10. National Bank – 113.34 billion as of the first quarter of 2018.
11. Bank of Baroda – 123.01 billion
12. Citibank N.A Kenya – 100.76 billion
13. Family Bank – 66.90 billion
14. Housing Finance Bank – 65.51 billion
15. Gulf Africa Bank – 32.40 billion
16. Victoria Commercial Bank – 32.34 billion
17. Sidian Bank – 25.33 billion
18. Habib Bank AG Zurich – 21.236 billion
19. First Community Bank – 15.78 billion
20. United Bank of Africa – 15.30 billion
21. Credit Bank – 14.46 billion as per the 2017 financial results
22. Consolidated Bank – 12.57 billion
23. Spire Bank – 10.83 billion according to the third quarter of 2018.
24. Oriental Commercial Bank – 10.58 billion
25. Transnational Bank – 10.11 billion
26. Development Bank – 8.63 billion
27. Middle East Bank – 5.36 billion
28. Bank of India – 2.607663 billion

The financials were sourced from the banks’ websites with comparisons from www.rich.co.ke.

More than ten registered banks in Kenya do not show in the list because they have not updated their financials in a while. There were no recent data to show how their balance sheet ranks.