The market penetration of Kenyan banks into the East African region has increased earnings for banks from the regional subsidiaries more than double last year.
According to the annual supervision report by Central Bank of Kenya, Kenyan lenders in the region recorded a cumulative gross profit of Sh66.13 billion in 2023.
The record profit represents a 103.4 percent growth from the Sh32.33 billion booked in 2022.
However, it is the investments in Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda that were the most lucrative after they accounted for 66.4 percent.
The DRC market raked in Sh30.1 billion while the Rwandese market brought in Sh13.81 billion.
Notably, the Congolese market grew the fastest having more than tripled from Sh9.785 billion in 2022 and shows greater growth prospects in the future.
The massive channeling of resources into the extremely rich country in natural resources is evident by it hosting most employees and assets which can be directly associated to growth in earnings from Sh9.8 billion in 2022 to Sh30.1 billion in 2023.
Additionally, the annual publication revealed that DRC accounted for 36.4 percent (Sh402 billion) of total loans by Kenyan lenders in the region up from 34 percent in 2022, indicating appetite for credit and growth prospects in the country.
The value of assets by subsidiaries in 2023 grew by 43.1 percent to Sh2.31 trillion with DRC accounting for 39.3 percent (Sh910.64 billion).
Currently only two Kenya banks have a presence in Congo, KCB bank with 109 branches and Equity Group with 79 branches.
“The growth was mainly driven by opening of new branches by KCB Group’s, Trust Merchant Bank in the Democratic Republic of Congo,” notes the report.
Uganda was ranked the third most profitable in the region with a gross total profit of Sh8.89 billion followed by Tanzania which overtook South Sudan bouncing from Sh918 million to bring in Sh5.64 billion.
