NAIROBI, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's Equity Bank on Thursday announced that it plans to focus on its East and Central Africa subsidiaries in order to boost revenues.
Mary Wamae, Group Executive Director of Equity Bank, told an investor briefing in Nairobi that subsidiaries in Uganda, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Tanzania are currently contributing 26 percent of the net income.
"Our aim is to ensure that subsidiaries grow their contribution to 30 percent by end of the year and 40 percent in the next two years," Wamae said during the release of the financial results for the first half of 2018.
Wamae said that during the first six months of 2018, the regional subsidiaries grew their profitability by 62 percent and this means that revenue from outside Kenya will play a bigger role in the overall profitability of the bank in future.
Wamae noted that East and Central Africa has one of the fastest growing regions in the world with economic growth expected to average six percent in the next few years.
"This presents an opportunity to expand presence in East and Central Africa as the markets are largely underserved," she added.
According to the financial results of the first half of 2018, the firm posted 110 million dollars in profits after tax, up from 94 million dollars for the same period last year.
