Most Profitable Banks in Kenya 2026: H1 Profit Ranking of Listed Lenders

Updated 31 October 2026

Equity Group is the most profitable bank in Kenya in 2026, with KSh45.5 billion profit after tax in the six months to June, followed by KCB Group (KSh36.9 billion) and Co-operative Bank (KSh18.0 billion). The ranking below uses half-year (H1) 2026 results published by NSE-listed lenders, as compiled by Kenyan Wall Street and Mwango Capital. Full-year 2026 figures will only be out from March 2027, so H1 is the latest comparable data.

H1 2026 profit ranking of listed banks

Group figures include regional subsidiaries. Some outlets quote profit attributable to shareholders instead (for example KSh43.8 billion for Equity and KSh36.1 billion for KCB), which is why numbers differ slightly between reports.

What drove bank profits in 2026

Business Daily’s analysis of nine listed lenders found combined net profit up 16.9% to KSh144.9 billion. Two forces did most of the work:

• Falling bad loans. Equity’s non-performing loan (NPL) ratio fell to 9.5% from 13.7%, KCB’s to 15.1% from 18.7% and Co-op’s to 13.9% from 17.2%. Fewer defaults mean smaller provisions, which flow straight to profit.
• Cheaper deposits. As interest rates eased, banks paid less for customer deposits, widening margins for most lenders.

Best performers by growth

By percentage, Family Bank grew fastest (+61.6%), driven by a 40.7% rise in net interest income, according to Mwango Capital. HF Group (+58.3%) continued its rebound, and DTB (+35.8%) and Equity (+31.4%) also posted strong gains.

Banks whose profits fell

Standard Chartered Kenya (-16.8%) and Absa Kenya (-9.8%) were the only listed banks with lower profits. StanChart’s drop came mainly from margin compression and weaker net interest income. Absa’s net interest income fell 5.4%, though it still had the lowest cost-to-income ratio in the sector at 41.2% and a return on equity of 21.7%.

Most profitable vs biggest bank

Profit and size are not the same. KCB remains the largest bank by assets (about KSh2.30 trillion) and shareholders’ funds, while Equity earns more profit on a slightly smaller balance sheet (about KSh2.16 trillion), helped by non-funded income making up 45% of total income.

Smaller banks to watch

The ranking covers only NSE-listed banks, because they must publish half-year results. Kenya has about 38 commercial banks, and many unlisted lenders also publish quarterly financial statements on their websites and in newspapers as required by the Central Bank of Kenya. Sidian Bank, for example, reported KSh2.15 billion in profit before tax for the first half of 2026, according to The Kenya Times. Unlisted banks are usually smaller, so their profits are lower in shillings even when their growth rates are high.

Profit before tax vs profit after tax

Some reports rank banks by profit before tax instead. On that basis Equity led with KSh57.8 billion, KCB followed with KSh49.3 billion and Co-op with KSh23.1 billion, so the top three stay the same. Profit after tax is the better measure for shareholders because it is what remains for dividends and reinvestment after corporate tax.

How to use this ranking

• Savers: profitability is one sign of strength, but also check capital adequacy and CBK’s core capital rules before moving large deposits. Deposits are protected by KDIC only up to the statutory limit.
• Investors: compare profit growth with dividend policy and share price. A high profit does not guarantee a high dividend yield.
• Borrowers: a profitable bank is not always the cheapest lender. Compare loan rates using total cost of credit, as in our guide to Tier 3 banks and our bank comparison pages.

Figures are from H1 2026 results as compiled by the sources linked above. Business Radar does not give investment advice.