The 2021 Top 1000 World Banks Ranking has been released by The Banker Magazine.
The ranking showed that the top four banks in the world are all based in China. They are ICBC, China Construction Bank, Agricultural Bank of China and Bank of China. In the fifth to eighth positions are US banks, namely JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Citigroup.
While South African lenders continue to dominate the top African positions in The Banker’s Top 1000 World Banks ranking, domestic economic pressures, combined with the worst outbreak of Covid-19 on the continent, have hit the country’s lenders hard. After posting gains across the board in 2019, just three of the country’s seven lenders in this year’s rankings saw an increase in their Tier 1 capital position in 2020, as higher impairments took their toll on balance sheets.
Standard Bank maintained its position as Africa’s largest lender on the continent — a position it has held for over 20 years — with a 5.8% gain in its Tier 1 capital base. It is the only one of South Africa’s big four to record such an increase. However, Standard Bank slipped five places in the overall Top 1000 to 157th place.
FirstRand and Absa Group placed second and third on the continent, respectively. The Tier 1 capital base of FirstRand dropped by 15.5%, and that of Absa Group also declined by 2.1%.
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National Bank of Egypt overtook South Africa’s Nedbank to become the continent’s fourth-largest lender. National Bank of Egypt also went up 22 places to occupy 215th position in the Top 1000. Nedbank placed fifth.
Meanwhile, the local rival of the National Bank of Egypt, Banque Misr, recorded the continent’s best growth, with a staggering 84.2% rise in its Tier 1 position. This rise, a gain of 94 positions in this year’s Top 1000, makes it the sixth highest mover in this year’s overall rankings.
Banque Misr was followed by Morocco’s Attijariwafa Bank, which placed seventh. The top 10 banks in Africa were all from South Africa and two North African countries.
The topmost bank from West Africa was Nigeria’s Zenith Bank which placed 12th. For East Africa, Kenya’s KCB Group ranked 20th.
The ranking was published in the July 2021 edition of The Banker Magazine of the Financial Times Group, United Kingdom. It was based on the 2020 year-end Tier-1 capital of banks globally.
Below are the top 25 banks in Africa:
