This archive report was first published on 17 June 2020.
Published on June 17, 2020, a report by Cytonn Investments has ranked I&M Holdings Kenya and Co-operative Bank Kenya as the top financial institutions in the country.
I&M Holdings Kenya has taken the top spot, marking a consistent upward trend from being the second runner-up in 2018 and the first runner-up at the end of 2019.
Co-operative Bank Kenya's ranking rose to second from third in the 2019 Financial Year (FY) due to an improvement in the Gross Non-Performing Loans (NPL) ratio.
According to Cytonn, Co-operative Bank of Kenya Ltd's rank improved to Position 2 from Position 3 in FY'2019 mainly due to an improvement in the Gross NPL ratio to 10.8% in Q1'2020 from 11.2% in FY'2019.
Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) took the second runner-up position, while Equity settled in at fourth place, as per the report by Cytonn Investments.
Despite the global pandemic, Kenyan banks have shown resilient performance, with many undertaking massive changes, including diversification of income and assistance from stakeholders like the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK).
As a result, banks have embarked on capital conservation by suspending dividend payments, with Equity Group Holdings withdrawing their recommendation to pay a first and final dividend of Kshs 2.5 per share for FY'2019.
However, the pandemic has also had a negative impact on the banks, with a decline in the quality of their loan books due to compliance with the new accounting rules known as IFRS 9.
