Once is not custom. In this ranking of the top 25 banks in Africa, we leave the dictates of the total balance sheet. If only because overweight is not always a sign of good health, we thought that the size of a bank expressed by the aggregation of assets should be supplemented by turnover ( GNP), the net result and, on the other hand, the country network in Africa.
It is this last element that is important in our ranking because it is the only one that carries the regional development project. On arrival, most banking institutions in the first steps of this ranking combine both the national scale and the density of the network. For example, Standard Bank, the largest in the world, with $ 163 billion in assets and a network covering 20 countries, is light years away from the African banking sector.
Owned 20% by the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and 11.9% by the South African pension fund, Public Investment Corporation (PIC), the bank drew 28% of its income from its African subsidiaries. The contribution of these subsidiaries, boosted by Angola, Ghana, Nigeria and Uganda is up 26%. Notable, the South African giant is now exploring French-speaking Africa through the brand Stanbic which has settled this year in Ivory Coast with strong ambitions.
Second and third place are respectively occupied by First Rand and Barclays Africa, two other South African banks present on the periphery of Southern Africa. The first is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and the Namibia Stock Exchange. As for the second, created in 1991, and consolidated in 2013 following the merger between Absa Group, it has undergone several changes. After taking the name of Barclays in the mid-2000s, the bank has returned to Absa since May 30, 2018.
The former Barclays Africa is listed on the JSE while its subsidiaries Barclays Kenya and Barclays Botswana are listed on the stock exchanges of their respective countries. In fourth position, Attijariwafa Bank is the first non-South African in this ranking, offsetting the relative modesty of its total balance sheet compared to the top three by its network of country affiliates. These 25 subsidiaries are mainly concentrated in the Maghreb and in West and Central Africa. But, the first bank in the Maghreb and CFA zone has made one of the flagship acquisitions of 2017 by taking over Barclays Egypt. Now established in the land of the Pharaohs, Attijariwafa Bank, born of a merger between the BCM and Wafa Bank in the mid-2000s, balances its possessions between the two shores of the Sahara. A winning strategy in view of the economic difficulties of some subsidiaries of the UEMOA zone, which is out of business. If Attijariwafa Bank is twice as big as Ecobank TI in terms of balance sheet total, the game is balanced thanks to the network of the latter.
Present in 34 countries, Ecobank is back on the rise thanks to a process of forceps digitization combined with a vigorous restructuring of Ecobank Nigeria, the group’s first subsidiary. Owned mainly by QNB, Nedbank and the South African PIC pension fund, the Lomé-based bank has recently closed more branches than it has opened. Another Moroccan bank in this ranking, the BCP. Ranked eighth, the largest deposit-taking bank in Morocco has achieved a strategic position on the Africa-India axis, following the acquisition, in February 2018, from the French group BPCE (Banque Populaire-Caisse d’Epargne), with its strategic partner in the area, the Sipromad Group, the Mascarene Bank, a credit institution based in Mauritius, and its subsidiary in Madagascar (Banque des Mascareignes Madagascar).
The big deal expected this year will certainly be the acquisition of BPCE’s African portfolio of the International Commercial Bank (BCI) in Congo (a wholly-owned subsidiary), BICEC (Cameroon International Bank for Savings and credit), held by the French institution 68.5% and the Tuniso-Kuwaiti Bank (BKB) in Tunisia, in which BPCE participates to 60%. Just behind the BCP, comes another Moroccan bank. BMCE Bank Of Africa should, beyond its vast network in Africa, strengthen its own funds. The idea of a 25% sale to the Saham group, merged into funds following the sale (not yet approved) of the group’s insurance business to Sanlam, remains very likely according to our information. In tenth place, UBA, the first Nigerian in this ranking, has the particularity of nurturing clear and legible ambitions for French-speaking Africa. This ranking, which focuses on the network, highlights local banks with a sub-regional focus. Cases of BGFI, Orabank, Coris Bank and, among others, Afriland First Bank. We expect capital transactions within these institutions. Algerian banks, confined in their country, will for their part leave their bases in search of growth drivers in Africa.