The Lower Eastern Times Opening The Third Eye
Four Kenyan lenders — KCB Group, Equity Group, Co-operative Bank of Kenya and Stanbic Holdings — have been included among the world’s best-performing banks in the latest Forbes ranking.
The institutions were assessed using financial information, desk research and data provided directly by participating banks.
To qualify, Kenyan lenders had to be licensed deposit-taking institutions with lending to retail or corporate customers as part of their core operations. They also needed to use nationally recognised and reconcilable accounting standards, publish audited financial statements for their latest completed financial year, provide at least three consecutive years of financial data and hold assets worth more than $3 billion.
Forbes assessed the banks across four major categories. Profitability carried the highest weighting at 30 percent, followed by capital and funding resilience at 25 percent, asset quality and efficiency at 25 percent, and growth and earnings quality at 20 percent.
The profitability assessment included indicators such as return on average assets, cost-to-income ratio and net interest margin.
Growth and earnings quality were measured through factors including earnings growth, earnings stability and the rate at which customer deposits increased over a three-year period.
Capital and funding resilience was assessed using measures such as the equity ratio and loan-to-deposit ratio, while asset quality and efficiency focused on credit performance, risk management and the strength of banks’ balance sheets.
The global ranking evaluated 500 banks from 89 countries and grouped them into six tiers according to their total assets.
The first tier consisted of global banks with assets exceeding $500 billion. Tier 2 covered banks with between $100 billion and $500 billion, while Tier 3 included institutions holding $50 billion to $100 billion in assets.
Tier 4 comprised mid-sized banks with assets ranging from $20 billion to $50 billion. Tier 5 covered lenders with $10 billion to $20 billion, while Tier 6 included smaller banks with assets between $3 billion and $10 billion.
The recognition comes as Kenyan banks continue to post strong financial results, helped by rising interest and non-interest income.
Equity Group recorded a 32 percent rise in profit after tax to Sh45.5 billion for the six months ending June 30, 2026.
Co-operative Bank also reported strong growth, with its profit after tax increasing by 28 percent to Sh18 billion in the first half of 2026 compared with the corresponding period a year earlier.
