The Banker has published its annual ranking of the world’s 1,000 biggest banks, as measured by their level of tier 1 capital – with five South African banks making the list in 2020.<\/p>\n
This is down from seven banks in 2019, with Capitec and African Bank dropping from the ranking.<\/p>\n
The group noted that despite South Africa entering a recession in the fourth quarter of 2019 – its second in two years – and severe electricity blackouts causing widespread disruption across all sectors of the economy, the country’s banks still managed to grow their tier 1 capital.<\/p>\n
However, the outlook for 2020 remains bleak, it said.<\/p>\n
“Coronavirus containment measures (are) set to compound structural weakness in the economy. The International Monetary Fund forecasts gross domestic product will contract by 5.8% in 2020, before rebounding by 4% the following year.”<\/p>\n
Standard Bank has maintained its position as the country’s biggest bank, recording $10.54 billion in tier 1 capital in 2020.<\/p>\n
This is followed by FirstRand, which is closing the gap with the country’s leader, The Banker noted.<\/p>\n
“While Standard Bank\u2019s earnings for 2019 were constrained by the difficult operating conditions in South Africa, the bank retained its prime position nationally, with its Tier 1 capital position improving by 8.16% to $10.5 billion and its total asset base rising by 9.73%,” the group said.<\/p>\n
“However, the bank\u2019s Top 1000 overall position fell to 152 from 149 in the 2019 ranking.”<\/p>\n
Standard Bank\u2019s pre-tax profits continue to come in ahead of its rivals, though a significant loss by ICBC Standard \u2013 part of the Chinese banking group Industrial and Commercial Bank of China in which it co-invests \u2013 saw overall pre-tax profits rise by just 1.4% for the year.<\/p>\n
FirstRand, meanwhile, comes second for performance, and first overall for soundness. It also scored highly for return on risk, profitability and operational efficiency, The Banker said.<\/p>\n
In the overall rankings for South Africa, Absa follows in third, with Nedbank and Investec also maintaining their fourth and fifth places, respectively.<\/p>\n
The biggest banks in South Africa<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n
\n #<\/th>\n Bank<\/th>\n 2019 Tier 1 Capital $m<\/th>\n 2020 Tier 1 Capital $m<\/th>\n Change<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n \n 152<\/span><\/td>\n Standard Bank<\/td>\n 9 752<\/td>\n 10 547<\/td>\n +8.2%<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 169<\/span><\/td>\n FirstRand<\/td>\n 8 231<\/td>\n 9 163<\/td>\n +11.3%<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 190<\/span><\/td>\n Absa<\/td>\n 6 848<\/td>\n 7 773<\/td>\n +13.5%<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 232<\/span><\/td>\n Nedbank<\/td>\n 5 109<\/td>\n 5 713<\/td>\n +11.8%<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 463<\/span><\/td>\n Investec<\/td>\n 2 801<\/td>\n 2 167<\/td>\n -22.6%<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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