Equity Group Holdings (EGH) is targeting to expand to 15 African countries by 2026.
Dr James Mwangi, said the bank is looking to capitalize on Nairobi’s position as the regional financial hub. Bloomberg reported.
The bank is already active in the region with subsidiaries in Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Sudan, and DRC.
Equity is utilizing gradual acquisition of banking franchises in target markets to expand its foothold across Southern, Western, and Central Africa.
For instance, in April 2019, EGH acquired Atlas Mara. The deal saw the lender acquire 62% share of Banque Populaire du Rwanda Limited and 100% of African Banking Corporation (ABC ) in Zambia, Tanzania and Mozambique.
On top of that, EGH is in the process of acquiring 66.53 per cent stake Banque Commercial du Congo (BCDC), the second-largest bank in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Furthermore, in September EGH appointed John Wilson as Group Chief Operating Officer (COO). Wilson was tasked with leading the bank’s Pan African expansion strategy as well as accelerate the digitization efforts.
Equity Bank is currently the largest bank in Eastern and Central Africa region with over 14 million customers gained access to an additional 2 million customers in the two deals.
