Equity Bank profits up 21 pct on loan growth

NAIROBI, KENYA: Kenya's Equity Bank posted on Wednesday a 21 percent rise in pretax profit to 10.82 billion shillings ($123.38 million) for the first half of 2014, driven by growth in its loan book.

Chief Executive Officer James Mwangi told a briefing that loans advanced to customers grew 24 percent to 186.5 billion shillings, while net interest income rose 6 percent to 14.02 billion shillings.