Equity Bank and NCBA Bank are among the largest and most influential banks in Kenya, playing a vital role in the country’s financial sector.
As leaders of these institutions, CEOs carry significant responsibility for their banks’ success, making strategic decisions that impact the bank’s customers, shareholders, and stakeholders.
However, one critical aspect of their role is their compensation, which often comes under scrutiny from the public and the media.
In this article, WoK looks at how much the CEOs of Equity Bank and NCBA Bank earn.
James Mwangi – Equity Bank
James Mwangi is the CEO of Equity Bank, one of the largest commercial banks on the African continent by number of customers.
According to Business Daily, Mwangi’s salary increased by 49 percent to Ksh 213.64 million, including a Ksh 53 million bonus in 2022.
With regulatory fillings showing that he missed the bonus pay in 2021, last year’s pay followed the company’s 15 percent rise in profits.
Equity Bank reported a record Ksh 46.1 billion net profits in 2022.
In 2021, Mwangi was the highest earning executive in the financial sector having pocketed Ksh 278.5 million.
According to data from Equity Group’s annual report, he received Ksh 194.5 million gratuity, Ksh 56.7 million basic salary and Ksh 13.9 million leave pay.
As earlier reported on WoK, Equity Bank was named the top lender in East Africa by capitalization.
According to Business Focus, the ranking by Africa Business placed the Kenyan bank ahead of his rivals based on the tier-one capital buffer.
East Africa’s Top Banks 2022 survey findings showed that the bank’s KSh 188.52 billion in capital also placed it in position 24 in Africa.
“One key indicator of the weakness of the Eastern African banking sector is the fact that the size of capital needed to secure the final position in our regional Top 20 is the lowest of all the other regions at $159 million
“For Kenyan banks at least, more rapid bank growth could come from the resumption of their expansion into other markets,” the report read in part.
John Gachora – NCBA Bank
On the other hand, NCBA Bank CEO John Gachora enjoyed a pay rise of 87.7 percent to Ksh 147.73 million in 2022.
This included a bonus of Ksh 40 million having missed it for two years in a row.
The pay rise and bonus reward is attributed to NCBA Bank’s 13.7 billion net profit for the the financial year ended December 2022.
The bank saw a rise in net earnings in the period interest and non-interest income grew in line with increased lending.
Net interest income rose from Ksh 27.04 billion to Ksh 30.68 billion, helped by increased lending that took the loan book from Ksh 244 billion to Ksh 278.9 billion.
Non-interest income hit Ksh 30.25 billion from Ksh 22.11 billion, adding support to the growth in the bottom line.
Gachora attended Gatamaiyu primary school before joining the prestigious Alliance Boys high school for his secondary education.
He later joined Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States of America where he graduated with both a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science degrees in Electrical Engineering.
In 2002, he received the Executive Master of Business Administration from the Wharton School of Business.
