Nairobi, 17^th December 2020 … Equity Group Holdings Plc has announced the appointment of Christopher Newson as a Non-Executive Director to its Board.

Christopher is a career banker with over 29 years of unique expertise in Investment and Commercial Banking and Alternative Asset Management gained in relation to Sub-Saharan Africa, with the last nine years being at the chief executive level. Christopher spent 24 years with the Standard Bank Group in several executive roles including Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Standard Bank for Africa, CEO of Stanbic IBTC in Nigeria and the Director of Corporate and Investment Bank. He was a member of Stanbic Holdings Limited Board, Stanbic Bank Kenya Limited Board, Stanbic Ghana, Standard Bank Mauritius and Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc (Nigeria). More recently, he was the Director for Private Markets at Investec Asset Management (now Ninety-One Asset Management). He is the current Non-Executive Chairman of Distell International Holdings Ltd and is a Non-Executive Director of Bayport Management Limited.

While speaking on the appointment to the board, Equity Group Chairman Professor Isaac Macharia described Christopher as a seasoned banker with immense experience across the region that will be useful to the board in its strategic oversight in the region. “We are pleased to welcome Christopher to the Equity Group board. He has vast experience in senior leadership, management and Board level governance, relationship management, integration and business expansion experience in financial services, risk and governance disciplines and diverse business maturities. His willingness to seek new challenges, resilience, energy, intellect and desire to make a difference make him a great fit for the Group.”

Commenting on the board appointment, Christopher noted: “I am truly honored to join the Board of Equity Group, one of the fastest-growing financial institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa and at a time when we are expanding our footprint in DRC.”

Christopher holds a Bachelor of Commerce Degree and a Certification in Theory of Accounting (CTA) from the University of Cape Town. He is a Chartered Accountant of South Africa and completed a Columbia Senior Executive Program.

About Equity Group Holdings Plc

Equity Group Holdings Plc is a financial service holding company listed at the Nairobi Securities Exchange, Uganda Securities Exchange, and Rwanda Stock Exchange. The Group has banking subsidiaries in, Rwanda, Uganda, South Sudan, Tanzania, DRC, and a Commercial Representative Office in Ethiopia; with additional non-banking subsidiaries engaged in the provision of investment banking, custodial, insurance agency, philanthropy, consulting, and infrastructure services.

Equity Group has an asset base of USD 9.3 billion. With over 14.2 million customers, the Group is one of the biggest banks by customer base in the region. The Group has a footprint of 335 branches, 52,742 Agents and 35,386 Merchants and 720 ATMs. The Group is the largest bank in market capitalization in East and Central Africa. The Banker Top 1000 World Banks 2020 ranked Equity Bank 754 overall in its global ranking, 62nd in soundness (Capital Assets to Assets ratio), 55th in terms of Profits on Capital and 20th on Return on Assets. In the same year, Moody’s gave the Bank a global rating of B2 with a negative outlook same as the sovereign rating of the Kenyan government due to the Bank’s strong brand recognition, solid liquidity buffers and resilient funding profile, established domestic franchise and extensive adoption of digital and alternative distribution channels. Equity Group Holdings Plc is regulated by the Central Bank of Kenya.