Equity Named Africa’s Strongest Banking Brand and Kenya’s Most Valuable Brand
Equity has extended its lead in the brand stakes, emerging as Africa’s strongest banking brand and Kenya’s most valuable brand in the latest Brand Finance benchmarks; an emphatic signal that the lender’s purpose-led model, digital scale and cross-border momentum are translating into premium customer trust and market recognition.
Brand Finance’s 2026 assessment of African banking brands places Equity Bank at the summit with a BSI score of 93.9/100 and an elite AAA+ rating, ranking the Kenyan lender among the Top 10 strongest banking brands globally.
South African peers Capitec Bank and First National Bank follow in the regional strength stakes, underscoring East and Southern Africa’s dominance in the continent’s brand power league.
On valuation, Brand Finance’s reporting on Kenyan brands places Equity at the top with a brand value of USD 554 million (KES 71.6 billion), ahead of the country’s largest corporates. Safaricom, which ceded the summit in 2024, is valued at USD 453 million (KES 58.5 billion), edging KCB Group, M-Pesa and Co-operative Bank in a Top 10 table dominated by lenders.
Brand Finance evaluates over 5000 of the world’s biggest brands annually across sectors to assess their brand strength, financial performance, and stakeholder perceptions. Brand strength is the clearest forward indicator of a financial brand’s pricing power, stickiness and growth potential. Equity’s climb into the global top tier on BSI, while also leading domestically on value, positions the Group to keep compounding network effects across payments, SME lending and regional trade corridors.
Brand Finance defines brand value as the net economic benefit a brand owner would achieve by licensing the brand in the open market, distinct from the company’s tangible assets. Brand strength (BSI) measures the efficacy of a brand’s performance on intangible drivers, such as familiarity, consideration, reputation and advocacy, relative to peers and is expressed via a score and rating (up to AAA+).
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