A press release issued on December 19, 2025 indicates that Equity Bank Kenya has obtained a commercial financing guarantee of 7.7 billion shillings (60 million USD) from the African Bank of Development (BAD), designed to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in import-export via letters of credit.

The BAD announced that the financing guarantee commercial should be approved before the end of December 2025. Equity Bank will transfer the risk of non-payment from buyers to the ADB, reducing the cost and the risk of financing international trade for Equity Bank. The institution states that “the proposed facility will contribute to mobilizing significant financial resources for SMEs and local businesses in the agricultural, manufacturing and industrial sectors.”

According to Moses Nyabanda, CEO of Equity Bank (Kenya) Limited, “this facility comes at a pivotal moment for Kenyan businesses, especially SMEs, which continue to do facing significant barriers to accessing commercial finance affordable”.

This guarantee is part of the plan” Equity Bank's Africa Recovery and Resilience” over three years and is in line with the ADB's current ten-year strategy. It also reinforces the financing from the institution to the private sector, providing 19.5 billion shillings (130 million USD) to KCB Bank to support SMEs run by women and green projects.