Dr. James Mwangi, Group Managing Director and CEO of Equity Group, said the bank had aligned its lending rates directly to the central bank rate (CBR), making adjustments automatic from the day the regulator acts. 

"We are very excited that the banking industry, with our regular CBK, we have now found a formula that will tag our lending rates to the central bank rates. The day central bank reduces its rates is an automatic reduction of your lending rate,” Dr. Mwangi stated. 

The commitment comes at a time when the CBK’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), which reviews monetary policy roughly every two months, on Thursday, April 9, announced that it had decided to maintain the CBR at 8.75%, marking the first pause after a rate-cutting streak. This means Equity will retain the adjustment it had communicated to its customers in early February. 

Commenting earlier, before the latest MPC announcement, Dr Mwangi said the easing cycle is already reshaping how Kenyans view borrowing, after years of what he described as “subdued appetite” for bank loans.  

"For the last six years, we have been experiencing declining lending, particularly in Kenya, and it’s for the first time we have seen appetite," he explained.  

The CEO added that the bank had watched the pain of high rates closely and was now positioned to respond as conditions improved. 

On February 11, Equity Bank issued a formal notice to customers confirming that variable-rate loans were now priced on the CBR plus a fixed premium, with the rate adjusting automatically following each MPC decision. 

The commitment reflects Equity’s readiness to support micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) with muchneeded working capital.  

In 2025, Equity led the sector after disbursing KSh 90.7 billion, accounting for about 28 per cent of the KSh 326.5 billion extended to MSMEs across the industry.  

This performance underscores the bank’s commitment to positioning itself not just as a lender, but as a strategic partner in facilitating both local and crossborder trade. In addition, Equity has pledged to allocate 30 per cent of its loan book to agriculture by 2030, reaffirming its support for a sector many lenders have traditionally shied away from. 

Beyond rate transmission, the bank revealed that it was also redesigning who it lends to and how. Dr. Joanne Korir, Director of Equity Group Foundation, outlined the scale of the Young Africa Works programme, a partnership with the MasterCard Foundation targeting youth enterprise and employment creation across the region. 

"We've been able to on-board 962,000 MSMEs into the programme, of whom 720,000 have received mentorship. In terms of access to credit to fuel their businesses, we've seen approximately 3.12 billion US dollars, which is about KSh 390 billion shillings, extended to these MSMEs," Korir noted. 

She disclosed that job creation had already far exceeded original targets, reaching approximately 2.4 million jobs against an initial goal of 810,000, a figure she described as a remarkable outcome for the cohort. 

Mwangi added that the bank was now extending loan tenors within the programme, from six months to as long as 24 months. This, he said, was geared towards helping young borrowers build sustainable credit histories and stronger business balance sheets over time. 

Equity posted a 55% rise in profit after tax to KSh 75.5 billion, a result the bank described as the highest in Kenya's corporate history. The balance sheet expanded 9% to KSh 1.97 trillion, with net loans growing 8% to KSh 882.5 billion.