Equity, KCB and Cooperative bank ranked top by The Banker magazine

Kenya’s top banks received a good ranking by the global The Banker magazine.

According to the Top 1000 World Banks 2018 ranking, Equity Bank’s ranking in financial soundness category was position 35 in the globe. The report puts the bank’s overal ranking at 799 with Sh84.8 billion ($848 million) in Tier 1 capital.

This shows that it has moved seven places up, compared with the 806th position it was placed last year. The lender was also categorised position 11 on profit and loss assets, 35th on the bank’s capital risk-weighted assets, and 44th on profits on capital.

The category was based on the bank’s return on assets and capital assets ratio.

Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) was ranked 809th, a drop from last year, with a tier capital of - 11.08 per cent while Co-operative Bank came in third among the Kenyan banks. It was ranked 951th globally, with a tier capital of 8.10 per cent.

According to The Banker, Africa’s economic fortunes improved in the 2017 review period after a difficult period in which lower commodity prices hit the performance of the African continents’ largest markets.

The Banker’s July 2018 edition features the Top 1000 World Banks ranking, which has been setting the industry benchmark since 1970. The ranking provides each bank’s performance, strength, and stability.

Return on capital

This helps track bank performance, identify banking partners for the future and track the big movers and new arrivals by benchmarking on their size, growth, profitability (return on assets, return on capital and cost to income ratio) as well as an advantage in terms of capital to assets ratio. The magazine’s ranking aims to point out banks’ stability, strength and performance.

The Excellent Financial Reporting made it to the first position locally, having weathered the storms that emerged over suitable environment for investors.