[PHOTOS] Uhuru commends Equity for growing continental presence

President Uhuru Kenyatta has commended Kenya's Equity Bank for its growing continental presence saying the financial institution's expansion is helping unite Africa and expand her economic freedom.

"It is a moment of rare regional and continental pride, as we witness our local enterprises coming together in the spirit of One Africa, One People," Uhuru said.

The Head of State spoke Wednesday in DR Congo when he presided over the official inauguration of the rebranded Equity BCDC office block in Central Kinshasa.

The merged entity, EquityBCDC, has a balance sheet in excess of USD3 billion and a nationwide footprint of 74 branches, 214 ATMs, 13 local dedicated desks, 3055 agents, a staff complement of 1156 and a customer base of over one million.

With the merger, Equity Group successfully combined BCDC’s heritage of 112 years in the DRC market, with its established track record in corporate banking; together with Equity Bank Congo’s solidly strong focus on financial inclusion.

Uhuru urged private investors to optimize the opportunities availed by regional cooperation frameworks to create regional supply chains, observing that the effect of the pandemic had created a paradigm shift in global supply chains such as health, agriculture and manufacturing.

He commended regional financial networks such as Equity Group Holdings for playing an important role in the success of regional cooperation by providing a seamless financial services intermediation across different markets.   

Speaking during the ceremony, Equity CEO James Mwangi said EquityBCDC has the distinctive capacity and unique capability to significantly contribute to positive transformation in the lives of the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

He added that Large corporate clients will particularly benefit from local credit facilities to the tune of USD 40 million on a Single Obligor Limit.

By leveraging Equity Group’s balance sheet, lending capacity on a Single Obligor basis can be set as high as USD 350 million, allowing Equity BCDC to make a real contribution to turn-key structural projects and the economy of DRC.

"As a subsidiary of Equity Group Holdings, Equity BCDC will add to the Groups’ capability to play a key role in regional economic development by facilitating cross border trade especially through trade finance and payments,”  Mwangi said.

"The expansion of Equity in the region strengthens Kenya’s position as a regional financial hub and diversifies the country’s exports beyond agricultural produce, manufactured goods and raw materials to include financial services. "

Celestin Mukeba, the Managing director of EquityBCDC said EquityBCDC gives our over one million clients unrivaled access to a deep and wide franchise of banking expertise.

"We are building DRC’s first fully digital bank. Clients will benefit from Equity’s leading market position in the card payments sector (both credit and debit), first-in-class mobile banking applications, real-time internet banking and the full integration of bank accounts with the leading mobile wallets available in DRC and abroad.”

In addition, Mukeba said EquityBCDC has the capabilities to contribute significantly to the integration of the Democratic Republic of Congo into the East Africa region in terms of the flow of capital and facilitation of regional trade.