Africa’s banking industry remains a study of contrasts, with the continent’s largest lenders suffering divergent fortunes during 2023. As a bloc, the 28 African banks in this year’s Top 1000 ranking underperformed their peers elsewhere in the world, registering an average 0.1 per cent growth in both Tier 1 capital and assets. Yet a closer inspection of the data reveals several interesting sub-regional trends.
In the main, the continent’s relative underperformance is attributable to the woes of South Africa and Nigeria, the continent’s two largest economies, with the weaknesses of local currencies significantly impacting lenders’ performance. The two countries account for 10 of the 18 African lenders to lose ground in terms of their positions in this year’s global list, with banks in Kenya and Angola falling back for the same reason.
