African banks suffered in this year’s Top 1000 ranking from the weakness of their currencies, many of which fell sharply against the US dollar in the second half of 2011.
South African banks were among the hardest hit, with the rand sliding almost 19% versus the US currency last year, though Standard Bank retained its position as the largest bank on the continent by Tier 1 capital and assets. Yet while the latter rose 12% in local currency during 2011, assets fell from $201bn to $183bn in dollar terms. This was also largely the reason why Standard Bank’s Tier 1 capital decreased from $12bn to $9.8bn in 2011, causing it to drop from 94th to 112th in the ranking – leaving Africa without any banks in the Top 100.
