Despite its well-documented economic challenges, South Africa remains the core of Africa’s banking industry. The six lenders listed in this year’s Top 1000 ranking — dominated by the big four of Standard Bank Group, FirstRand, Absa Group and Nedbank Group — account for half of the continent’s total asset and Tier 1 capital base.
Yet while South Africa’s big four hold the top positions for the continent as a whole for the second year in a row, their dominance continues to get more precarious, with lenders from Morocco in particular closing the gap. The IMF predicts South Africa’s economic growth will remain sluggish at 0.9 per cent for 2024, compared with 3.8 per cent for sub-Saharan Africa as a whole, with the weakness of the rand continuing to act as a brake on performance in dollar terms.
