Africa's best digital bank 2019: Equity Bank

In a continent where the population is largely rural, there are many obstacles to financial inclusion. Mobile money and agency banking have provided solutions, especially in Kenya, where digital banking uptake has been impressive, so it is no surprise that Africa’s best digital bank is Kenya’s Equity Bank.

At Equity, over 96% of all transactions happen outside branches and 93% of loans are originated via mobile; digital solutions are essential to the bank’s growth and making these processes easier is central to its success.

Under the leadership of chief executive James Mwangi, the bank has moved well beyond traditional mobile banking products and is investing in some cutting-edge technology.

In August 2018, Finserve Africa, which runs Equitel, the mobile virtual network operator in Kenya owned by Equity Group Holdings, was spun off as an independent fintech company. 

As well as Equitel, several other applications were added to the company’s offering including the Jenga Payment Gateway and the Jenga application programming interface (API).