Equity Group Holdings Limited


Equity Group Holdings Limited, formerly Equity Bank Group, is a financial services holding company based in the African Great Lakes region. EGHL's headquarters are in Nairobi, Kenya, with subsidiaries in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Sudan, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Overview

EGHL is a large financial services conglomerate. As of 31 December 2017, it had assets exceeding KSh524.5 billion. At the time, total group customers were 12.1 million in 6 African Great Lakes countries, with KSh373.1 billion in deposits.
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 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 deployed.
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.
In April 2019, The EastAfrican newspaper reported that Equity Group had signed binding memoranda with Atlas Mara Limited, to acquire banking units belonging to ATMA, in Zambia, Mozambique, Tanzania and Rwanda, in a share swap valued at US$105.71 million. The acquisition includes 62 percent of Banque Populaire du Rwanda, 100 percent of African Banking Corporation of Zambia, African Banking Corporation of Mozambique and African Banking Corporation of Tanzania. The transaction requires approval from regulators and shareholders from the five countries involved. In exchange for that ownership, ATMA will receive 6.27 percent shareholding in Equity Group Holdings Limited.
In June 2020, the New Times newspaper reported that the...."binding term sheet that has been signed for the proposed acquisition of Atlas Mara Group’s assets in Rwanda, Tanzania, Mozambique and Zambia had expired with the parties not having signed detailed transaction agreements".... Those plans were called off at that time.
In September 2019, Equity Bank Group began talks to acquire a controlling stake in Banque Commerciale du Congo, the second-largest commercial bank in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. If and when the transaction is concluded, the new acquisition is expected to be merged with the existing Equity Bank Congo.

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., shareholding in the group's stock was as depicted in the table below:
RankName of OwnerPercentage Ownership
1. of Norway and Netherlands11.99
2.British-American Investments Company5.52
3.James Njuguna Mwangi5.52
4.Equity Bank Employees' Share Ownership Plan3.25
5.Fortress Highlands Limited2.68
6.Standard Chartered Nominees Limited A/C KE0024272.56
7.Standard Chartered Nominees Non-Resident A/C 92572.54
8.Equity Bank Nominees Limited A/C 001042.47
9.Stanbic Bank Nominees Limited A/C NR3530153-12.40
10.Solidus Holdings Limited2.39
11.28,304 Other Investors60.82
Total100.00

Board of directors

The following are the board members of Equity Group Holdings Limited, as of 22 October 2016.
  1. David Ansell, Chairman
  2. James Mwangi, CBS, Group 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. Alykhan Nathoo
  12. Dennis Aluanga
  13. John Staley
  14. Elizabeth Lwanga
  15. 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. Equity Bank Congo – Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo : 86% 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 in the Kenya.
  12. Equity Group Foundation – Nairobi, Kenya – 100% Shareholding – The philanthropy and corporate social responsibility arm of the group.