Equity Group has fired about 2,000 employees over conflict of interest concerns after an extensive ethics and conduct audit uncovered irregular financial activity involving staff accounts, customer transactions, and third-party entities. The review forms the latest phase of a crackdown that began in 2024 and has now widened across the lender’s regional subsidiaries.
The Equity Group ethics and conduct audit flagged suspicious inflows into employee salary accounts and mobile wallets. Staff were required to explain deposits that exceeded their earnings. Those who were unable to justify the funds were taken through disciplinary hearings and exited with only basic dues, losing long-service benefits. This process builds on earlier investigations that examined employee transactions dating back to December 2023.
Despite the staff exits, the bank’s wage bill rose after an average 20% pay increase was implemented and backdated by two months. Staff costs grew 19.2% in the nine months to September, reaching Sh28.5 billion. Equity has also raised its entry-level permanent salary in Kenya to about Sh116,000, up from Sh65,000, under a pay structure that adjusts compensation in line with business performance.
The internal reviews follow several fraud cases involving employees across different branches. In May 2025, the bank dismissed 1,200 staff members after a forensic audit linked them to irregular activity involving customer funds and staff salary accounts. Investigators reported collusion in high-value schemes that moved large sums through multiple accounts.
One of the cases under investigation involves a Sh1.5 billion payroll fraud carried out between May and July 2024. Forty-seven unauthorized withdrawals were processed using the stolen credentials of a bank manager who was on leave. Part of the money was traced to cryptocurrency platforms, with at least Sh38 million linked to accounts associated with lawyer Esther Bitutu Kadiki and companies connected to her.
Another employee is alleged to have diverted Sh386.5 million into eight shell companies. Equity is pursuing recovery through legal channels after tracing the movement of the funds. A third case involves Sh8 million stolen from a senior politician’s account in July 2024 and later transferred through crypto exchanges to offshore destinations. All three incidents share comparable laundering patterns that were reported to the Banking Fraud Investigation Unit in July 2024.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations, working with the National Intelligence Service, lead the investigations. The reports triggered a wider internal review across the group’s regional operations. In June, Equity Bank Uganda issued show-cause letters to employees after deposits into personal accounts coincided with customer loan disbursements.
Management has intensified compliance spending to minimize internal fraud risks. Training costs for ethics and compliance have risen by 167% in 2024, with mandatory lessons on anti-bribery rules, fraud awareness, and data privacy now in place across the institution.
The lender, which operates banking, insurance, investment banking, telecoms, and fintech units in six countries, posted Sh52.1 billion in net profit over the period under review. The combination of a higher wage structure and stricter internal controls is intended to strengthen oversight while supporting the group’s operational demands.
Jefferson Wachira is a writer at Africa Digest News, specializing in banking and finance trends, and their impact on African economies.