Co-op Bank gains marginally to overtake rival in the battle for market share

Equity group Managing Director and CEO Dr. James Mwangi during the Equity Group Holdings Plc Investors briefing at Equity Centre.[PHOTO:WILBERFORCE OKWIRI/STANDARD]

Cooperative Bank has dislodged Equity Bank as the country’s second-biggest lender.

According to the Central Bank of Kenya’s (CBK) 2017 Annual Bank Supervision Report, Cooperative Bank’s market share grew marginally to 9.93 per cent, up from 9.9 per cent in 2016.

Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) maintained the pole position with a market share of 14.4 per cent.

Equity Bank’s market share, on the other hand, dipped significantly from 10 per cent in 2016 to 9.85 per cent last year, paving the way for Cooperative Bank to leap-frog it in market size. For a while now, the fight for the pinnacle of the country’s banking industry has been a two-horse race between KCB and Equity Bank.

Equity recently suffered another upset, with KCB upstaging it in the profit battle. KCB edged out Equity Bank as the country’s most profitable bank, announcing an 18 per cent growth in net profit to Sh12.1 billion in the first six months of this year.

Equity Bank’s net profit, on the other hand, jumped 17 per cent to Sh11 billion in the first six months of the year, up from Sh9.4 billion that the lender made in a corresponding period last year.

Cooperative Bank reported an after-tax profit of Sh7.1 billion, a 7.6 per cent rise from Sh6.6 billion realised last year.

According to the CBK survey, Standard Chartered Bank came third with a market share of 7.11 per cent.

Diamond Trust Bank dislodged Barclays Bank from the fifth position to close the list of the country’s top five lenders.

Diamond Trust Bank had a market share of 6.72 per cent followed by Barclays with 6.57 per cent. Commercial Bank of Africa (CBA) had a market share of 6.05 per cent and Stanbic 5.62 per cent.

Performance indicator

The market share index is calculated by taking into account bank results in five key performance indicators, namely total net assets, total deposits, total shareholders’ funds, total deposit accounts and total loan accounts.

“It is not yet apparent whether the loss of market share by Barclays has any connection with possible market jitters surrounding the change in ownership and rebranding currently underway,” said a bank official who requested anonymity as he is not authorised to speak to the media.