Equity Group Processes 89.5% of Transactions Through Digital Platforms in Q1 2026
Equity Group processed 89.5% of all customer transactions through digital platforms in the first quarter of 2026, the lender has announced.
The figure sits within a broader headline: 98.3% of all transactions now occur entirely outside physical branches, across a customer base of 22.7 million spanning multiple African markets.
The digital transaction volumes trace directly to structural changes Equity made to its technology function. The Group formally built out its Technology Group in Q4 2025, centralising responsibility for modernising core banking systems, payments infrastructure, and risk analytics under a dedicated organisational unit.
The rebuild is designed to do more than process transactions faster. Equity says the upgraded infrastructure is enabling improved risk management, with non-performing loans declining from 14% to 10% year-on-year, an outcome the Group attributes partly to enhanced analytics running on the same platforms carrying the bulk of customer activity.
Alongside the systems overhaul, Equity has pursued one of the more ambitious workforce AI programmes among African financial institutions. Some 80% of Group staff have completed a business-focused generative AI course, accumulating over 20,000 hours of instruction. The Group is separately running upskilling programmes through iamtheCODE, with over 5,000 active users logging more than 3,500 hours of learning on the platform.
Group Managing Director and CEO Dr. James Mwangi described the workforce investment as foundational to the next phase of growth. “We are building a future-ready institution, scalable, secure, and impact-led, anchored in digital capabilities, staff upskilling, and a culture of disciplined execution,” he said.
Equity’s 2030 strategy targets expansion to 15 countries and 100 million customers, with next-generation digital and AI-enabled systems at its centre. With nearly nine in ten transactions already on digital rails and an agent and merchant distribution network of 86,910 outlets and 1.4 million merchants absorbing much of the remainder, the technical infrastructure for that expansion is already largely in place.
“As we progress toward our 2030 ambitions, we are evolving beyond traditional banking into a Transformation Finance Institution that mobilises capital, connects ecosystems, and accelerates inclusive, sustainable prosperity across Africa,” Mwangi added.
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