Equity Bank Congo

Equity Bank Congo (EBC), formerly ProCredit Bank DRCongo, is a commercial bank in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. As of May 2015, it was the seventh largest commercial bank in the country, with assets exceeding US$200 million and shareholders' equity of US$25 million. At that time, its customer base exceeded 170,000.[1] It is owned by Kenya-based Equity Group Holdings Limited.

Equity Bank Congo

Type	Private company
Industry	Financial Services
Founded	2005 (2005)
Headquarters	Kinshasa , Democratic Republic of the Congo
Key people	David Ansell (Chairman), Celestin Mukeba Muntuabu (Managing Director)
Products	Loans, Transaction accounts, savings, investments
Revenue	Afertax:US$1.93 million (31 Dec 2015)
Total assets	US$265 million (31 Dec 2015)
Parent	Equity Group Holdings Limited
Website	www.equitybank.cd

Overview

According to 2015 tax filings by Equity Group Holdings Limited, Procredit Bank had an asset base of about US$228.4 million, a loan book of about US$132.67 million, customer deposits of about US$185.5 million, and shareholder's equity valued at US$29 million at the time it was acquired by EGHL. Procredit made an after-tax profit valued at US$5.525 million in Calendar Year 2015.[2] *Note: US$1.00 = KSh100.3, on 30 March 2016

As of August 2018, Equity Bank Congo was reported to be the most profitable subsidiary in the Equity Bank Group, during the first six months of calendar year 2018.[3]

History

Before May 2015, three corporate entities jointly owned 79 percent of Procredit's stock:[1] Procredit Bank, the German Investment Corporation, and Stichting DOEN. The remaining 21 percent was held by KfW (12 percent) and the International Finance Corporation (9 percent).[1]

On 26 May 2015, Equity Group Holdings Limited (EGHL) of Kenya, a large financial services conglomerate announced that it had agreed to pay US$60 million for 79 percent shareholding in Procredit Bank.[1][4] EGHL has a customer base exceeding 9.2 million in the five East African countries it serves, making it the largest commercial bank on the African continent by customer numbers.[5] The deal was concluded following regulatory approval by Kenyan and Congolese authorities, which was obtained in September 2015.[6][7]

In September 2019, Equity Bank Group began talks to acquire a controlling stake in Banque Commerciale du Congo (BCDC), the second-largest commercial bank in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[8] If and when the transaction is concluded, the new acquisition is expected to be merged with the existing Equity Bank Congo.[9]

In November 2019, Business Daily Africa reported that Equity Bank Group had agreed to pay US$106 million (KSh10.7 billion) to the George Arthur Forrest Group, in exchange of 66.5 percent ownership in BCDC. In addition, Equity Group Holdings was contemporaneously in negotiations with KfW, to acquire an extra 7.6 percent stake in Equity Bank Congo.[10] All these acquisitions are subject to regulatory and shareholder approval from Kenya, DR Congo and COMESA.[11]

Ownership

As of April 2017, the shareholding in the bank is illustrated in the table below:[12]

Equity Bank Congo Stock Ownership

Rank	Name of Owner	Percentage Ownership from in 2017
1	Equity Group Holdings Limited	85.9
2	KfW	8.1
3	International Finance Corporation	6.0
	Total	100.00

Branches

As of May 2015, PBD maintained 15 networked service branches. At that time, EGHL planned to increase the branch list to 30.[13] As of August 2018, the bank's branch list had increased to 41.[3]

Rebranding

In July 2018, nearly three years since the acquisition by EGHL, Procredit Bank re-branded to Equity Bank Congo, to reflect the prevailing shareholding.[14]

See also

• List of banks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

References

1. BDAfrica Reporter (26 May 2015). "Equity Buys 79 Percent Stake In DR Congo's ProCredit Bank". Business Daily Africa. Nairobi. Retrieved 26 May 2015.
2. Ngigi, George (30 March 2016). "Equity says it paid Sh4.5 Billion for Congo bank acquisition". Business Daily Africa. Nairobi. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
3. Munda, Constant (21 August 2018). "Equity Bank's DRC branch becomes most profitable subsidiary". Business Daily Africa. Nairobi. Retrieved 22 August 2018.
4. Equity Group Holdings Limited (October 2014). "Equity Bank Group Financial Statement As At 30th September 2014". Equity Group Holdings Limited. Retrieved 26 May 2015.
5. Flood, Zoe (3 July 2014). "Kenya's Mobile Innovation Brings Digital Money Closer". BBC News. Retrieved 26 May 2015.
6. Juma, Victor (26 May 2015). "Equity Runs Ahead of Rivals With Takeover of DRC Bank". Business Daily. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
7. Ngigi, George (30 March 2016). "Equity says it paid Sh4.5 billion for Congo bank acquisition". Nairobi: Business Daily. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
8. Adonijah Ochieng (9 September 2019). "Equity To Expand In DRC With Acquisition of Second-Largest Bank". Business Daily Africa. Nairobi. Retrieved 15 September 2019.
9. Alushula, Patrick (11 September 2019). "Equity tipped to spend Sh17bn in DRC bank deal". Business Daily Africa. Nairobi. Retrieved 15 September 2019.
10. Edwin Okoth (19 November 2019). "Equity to pay family Sh10bn for DRC bank". Business Daily Africa. Nairobi. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
11. James Anyanzwa (19 November 2019). "Kenya's Equity Bank to acquire Congolese lender at $105 million". The EastAfrican. Nairobi. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
12. Juma, Victor (29 April 2017). "Equity Group now raises stake in its Congo unit to 86 percent". Business Daily Africa. Nairobi. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
13. Masinde, Joshua (26 May 2015). "Equity Buys KSh6 Billion Stake In German Bank To Enter The DRC". Daily Nation. Nairobi. Retrieved 27 March 2015.
14. Ngugi, Brian (19 July 2018). "Equity rebrands Congo subsidiary three years after acquisition". Business Daily Africa. Nairobi. Retrieved 20 July 2018.