![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Bloomberg1-1.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nHow the others fared:<\/p>\n
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- Absa reported a 16% increase in earnings from its African operations in the year through December to account for 22% of total profit.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
<\/p>\n
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- FirstRand\u2019s investment banking unit Rand Merchant Bank had a 29% jump in pre-tax profit from its African business in the six months through December, with the region accounting for 23% of that division\u2019s profit.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
<\/p>\n
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- Standard Bank\u2019s rest of Africa business expanded 5% in 2019 to account for 31% of group earnings. Its personal and business banking subsidiary boosted earnings from the region by 53%, by adding 416,000 more customers to 3.4 million, opening branches and ATMs and pushing more digital transactions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Even so, with headwinds building across sub-Saharan Africa because of a slowing global economy, the banks need South Africa to unlock growth, said Adrian Cloete, a portfolio manager at Cape Town-based PSG Wealth.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Bloomberg2.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nRolling blackouts known locally as load shedding are the biggest threat to the country, and the government has done little to fix power shortages since they emerged at least 13 years ago. Unemployment of 29% is also at risk of increasing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe really can\u2019t afford to have all this load shedding,\u201d he said. \u201cWe can\u2019t afford not to do the right things. We\u2019re now basically running out of time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alan Pullinger, the chief executive officer of FirstRand, the country\u2019s largest bank by market value, doesn\u2019t think the economy will recover for 3-5 years, and lamented the slow pace of structural reforms by president Cyril Ramaphosa.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe longer we find ourselves in this low growth environment the pressure and the sense of urgency is increasing,\u201d Daniel Mminele, the CEO of Absa, said in an interview. \u201cMost of us would probably like a higher sense of urgency and to see things happening faster but one can\u2019t live without hope.\u201d<\/p>\n
- Standard Bank\u2019s rest of Africa business expanded 5% in 2019 to account for 31% of group earnings. Its personal and business banking subsidiary boosted earnings from the region by 53%, by adding 416,000 more customers to 3.4 million, opening branches and ATMs and pushing more digital transactions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- FirstRand\u2019s investment banking unit Rand Merchant Bank had a 29% jump in pre-tax profit from its African business in the six months through December, with the region accounting for 23% of that division\u2019s profit.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n