Equity bank’s digitisation strategy during the covid 19 pandemic has driven growth in loans and transactions with digital banking channels accounting for 94 percent of Group’s total transactions.

While mobile and internet banking accounted for 79 percent of all non-branch transactions.

However, the branches retained the bulk of the transactions accounting for 47percent of total transactions, followed by mobile & internet, and agency banking accounting for 27 and 17 percent respectively.

The bank attributes the growth to governments and Central Bank of Kenya call for a cashless transaction to contain the spread of Covid-19 pandemic.

Since the pandemic, Equity has been facilitating its customers to enhance use of its non-branch channels to facilitate transactions and access to key products and services.

Through an elaborate fintech strategy, the bank registered significant growth across the digital platforms during the period, with Eazzy Fx registering 100 percent growth in both volume and value of transactions.

The bank’s payments channel EazzyPay registered 900,000 transactions, a 64 percent surge compared to a similar period last year, with volumes transacted rising by 82 percent from Ksh 2.9 billion last year to Ksh 5.2 billion within the period.

Eazzynet, Equity’s internet banking cash lite solution, managed 33 percent growth in volumes transacted during the quarter from Ksh 2.4 billion same period last year to Ksh 3.2 billion this year.

Similarly, the Eazzy banking App managed a 25 percent growth in transactions from 70.5 million to 88.2 million this year, with a 14 percent growth in values transacted from Ksh 38 billion to Ksh 43.3 billion this quarter.

Additionally, the bank has managed to leverage off variable cost 3rd party infrastructure to facilitate ease of access to its digital alternative platforms, which through enhanced efficiency have become a convenient alternative for customers enabling them carry out core functions in real time from their premises.

Eazzybiz oversaw a 46 percent growth in volumes transacted from Ksh 89.4 billion last year to end the quarter at 130.5 billion.

The platform has been a suitable alternative for Equity’s SME and corporate customers during this period, where businesses are able to use the cashless platform for liquidity and cash management functions.

In a move to support initiatives aimed at mitigating the impact of Covid-19 and encourage cash lite transactions, Equity has withdrawn all charges and fees on mobile banking transactions during the period, as it continues to support its customers during this unprecedented business environment.