Equity Group's James Mwangi has been listed among the 50 most reputable bank CEOs in Africa 2021.
Reputation Poll International, a reputation-management firm has recognized the power minds behind the resilience showed by African banks.
“They have helped their banks attain a great height of performance during the pandemic,” stated the firm.
The recognition list contains those who have built and played an imperative role in revolutionizing the banking sector through Excellence, Integrity, Reliability, Expertise, Technology, and ease of credit.
According to the firm, the Covid-19 pandemic,struck a blow to the banking industry across the globe; most specifically the African banks have seen a decline in the average return on equity from 14 per cent in 2019, to 7 per cent in 2020 .
It is estimated that if economic recovery goes as planned, by 2022 African banks should rebound to their pre-Covid-19 revenue levels, whilst the banks in developed markets will only rebound by 2024.
In the year under review, Equity recorded a Return on Equity (ROE) of 15.3 per cent, which is above African banks average at 7 per cent.
Mwangi led his team weather the Covid disruption to register a 51 per cent growth in its balance sheet with total assets growing to Sh1.015 billion up from Sh674 billion the previous year.
From a business perspective, lives and livelihoods were affected.
As a financial institution Equity accommodated customers loans up to Sh171billion .
Through the Foundation, the Group also mobilized over Sh1.7 billion to help the country respond to the pandemic among other efforts.
Mwangi has been at the helm of Equity Group for 16 years.
During this period he has redefined the Group to a purpose-driven organisation.
He recently won the prestigious 2020 Oslo Business for Peace and in September 2020, he joined a league of 14 global CEOs who have committed to champion cross-sector collaboration in the creation of a purpose-first economy among others.
