Equity Bank Doubles Entry-Level Pay in Major Salary Review

Equity Group has rolled out a sharp salary increase for its workforce, more than doubling the entry-level permanent pay in Kenya from Sh65,000 to about Sh116,000 as part of a major compensation review.The bank awarded its remaining staff an average 20 per cent salary increase, pushing total staff costs up by 19.2 per cent to Sh28.5 billion in the nine months to September.

The raise was also backdated by two months, giving employees an immediate financial boost.The new pay structure is part of a “shared prosperity” policy, under which employee earnings are more closely linked to the bank’s overall performance.

Management says the move is meant to motivate staff, reward productivity and attract skilled talent in a competitive financial sector.Despite reducing its workforce by about 2,000 employees following an internal ethics audit, the bank’s overall wage bill still rose sharply, reflecting the scale of the pay adjustment across the organisation.

The salary review comes at a time when Equity posted a net profit of Sh52.1 billion, demonstrating strong financial performance across its banking, insurance, investment, telecoms and fintech businesses in six African countries.Alongside the pay rise, Equity has also increased spending on employee training and compliance, with ethics and governance training costs rising by 167 per cent in 2024.