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Ratings and research firm S&P Global has released its latest research detailing the largest banks in the Africa and Middle East region – and including five banks in South Africa.<\/p>\n
The rating firm’s research shows that Saudi Arabia is home to the largest number of top 30 banks, with seven institutions collectively holding assets worth $513 billion.<\/p>\n
South Africa follows next with five institutions holding combined assets of $466 billion.<\/p>\n
All South African lenders, except FirstRand, slipped from their previous ranking, due largely to rand weakness – down almost 14% against the US dollar in 2018. For Standard Bank Group, the stronger dollar knocked $24.06 billion off the dollar value of its assets, S&P said.<\/p>\n
Qatar National Bank continued its reign as the largest bank in Africa and the Middle East for the fourth consecutive year. The Qatari banking giant had assets worth $242.29 billion at year-end 2018, roughly $40 billion more than UAE-based First Abu Dhabi Bank PJSC.<\/p>\n
Emirates NBD Bank PJSC, jumped three notches to third, displacing South Africa’s Standard Bank Group, partially driven by the UAE lender’s pending acquisition of DenizBank A\u015e a subsidiary of PAO Sberbank of Russia.<\/p>\n
The biggest banks in South Africa<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n