Kenya's biggest banks posted no annual loss in five years
Kenya's largest lenders have kept growing profits while small firms struggle to borrow and households sink deeper into debt, according to TechCabal.
The facts
- TechCabal reviewed five years of audited reports and found no tier-1 Kenyan bank with an annual net loss. Combined pre-tax profit rose 17.6% in 2025 to KES 305.95 billion ($2.36 billion).
- Safaricom says Fuliza earned KES 4.9 billion ($38 million) in the six months to September 2026, up 86%. It now has 17.2 million borrowers, and the average advance fell 24.6% to KES 192 ($1.49).
- Government securities made up 27.8% of banking sector assets by late 2024, and the loan-to-deposit ratio had fallen to 70.1%, according to the Kenya Bankers Association.
- Kenya has 281 licenced digital lenders with 8.9 million customers. FinAccess reports 16.6% of households face debt distress, up from 10.3% in 2021.
Case notes · Danny's take
Why it matters
Profit growth and borrower stress are rising together. That's not a contradiction. It shows where the banks are choosing to take risk. They lend to the state, and they lend tiny amounts through M-PESA, where repayment is deducted automatically. Meanwhile, roughly three-quarters of small businesses that might need credit never apply, according to a Kenya Bankers Association paper cited in the piece. A KES 192 advance looks small in dollars, but for the person taking it, it's real money.
For builders
The gap is credit assessment for businesses with irregular sales, thin accounts and no collateral. Fuliza shows what works: use payments data to judge risk and recover repayments automatically. If you can do that for small firms, you're solving the problem the banks say is holding them back.
Not financial advice. Do your own investigation.
This story was summarised with AI from TechCabal's reporting and checked against our editorial policy. Danny's take reflects his views. Disclaimer.
Danny Walter
Founder of Moon Republic, Volt Terminal and Moon Republic Academy. Author of The Market Is a Crime Scene and After the Applause.