South African Banks Top The List Of Africa’s Biggest Banks In 2019

South African banks remain the top financial institutions in Africa despite a technical recession in the second quarter of 2018 that slowed down SA’s banking sector.

This is according to the Banker’s 2019 ranking of the Top 1000 World Banks.

Top on the list of African banks by Tier 1 capital is South Africa’s Standard Bank with USD 9.8 Bn, a 3.7 percent fall on the bank’s Tier 1 capital. It managed to retain its top position in the continent but globally, it fell from position 145 to 149.

FirstRand, started in 1998 also maintained its second position in Africa despite a 2.3 percent drop in Tier 1 capital. Out of the 1000 banks ranked, it was positioned at 173rd.

ABSA Group and Nedbank also retained third and fourth positions respectively in the continent. Just like the aforementioned banks, the two also experienced double-digit falls in their Tier 1 capital positions over the period.

ABSA Group fell 14 positions to 184th in 2019’s global ranking while Nedbank fell 23 positions to 240th.

Apart from South African banks, Egypt, and Morocco banks also featured conspicuously among the largest banks in the continent.

Nigeria’s Zenith Bank Plc also appeared on the top 10 African list and managed position 415 in the world with USD 2.8 Bn.

In the global ranking, Chinese banks dominated the top four places as the largest global banks. US bank then followed in fifth place.

The Banker’s Top 1000 World Banks 2019 provides comprehensive intelligence about the health and wealth of the global banking sector. The ranking includes data on more than USD 123 Tn of assets in 94 countries.

Featured Image Courtesy: Businesslive.coza