KCB Bank becomes Kenya’s largest lender by market share

Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) has emerged as the largest bank in Kenya by market share in 2025, according to the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) Bank Supervision Annual Report. KCB holds a composite market-share index of 17.3 per cent, driven by net assets of Sh1.498 trillion and deposits of Sh1.152 trillion.

KCB has significantly widened its lead over its closest competitor, Equity Bank. The gap between the two lenders has reached 5.5 percentage points, the widest since at least 2012. While KCB’s weighted market share rose to 17.3 per cent from 16.6 per cent, Equity Bank’s share declined to 11.8 per cent from 12.8 per cent. This represents a major shift from 2021, when the two banks were nearly tied with a difference of only 0.24 percentage points.

Following KCB, the top rankings include Co-operative Bank in third place with a 9.4 per cent index, NCBA Bank in fourth, and Absa Bank Kenya in fifth. The report highlights a divergence in balance-sheet growth, with KCB expanding its net assets from Sh826 billion in 2021 to Sh1.50 trillion in 2025, while Equity Bank’s net assets grew from Sh877 billion to Sh1.04 trillion in the same period.