Standard Bank still Africa’s largest

By AGENCIES

STANDARD Bank has once again been ranked as Africa’s largest bank by assets and core capital for this year by the global industry magazine The Banker.

The bank retained its top spot from last year’s ranking, which showed the balance sheet muscle it was using to pursue mostly organic growth in sub-Saharan Africa.

The JSE-listed group, however, slipped out of the top 100 global banks, falling from 94th last year to 112th this year, The Banker said after releasing this year’s top 1000 global banks.

The ranking highlights the overall health of the group,” said Sim Tshabalala, a deputy CEO of Standard Bank, on Wednesday.

“We are well capitalised, profitable and have a clear growth path (and) our strong capital position provides a stable platform for further growth...” he said.

Mr Tshabalala said the group planned to build on-the-ground banking franchises in chosen markets in Africa and invest in people and systems.

FirstRand, the second-largest banking group on the JSE by market capitalisation, was ranked second among the top 25 banks in Africa, followed by Old Mutual-owned Nedbank, in third place.

The magazine blamed weak African currencies, particularly during the second half of last year, for reducing the value of bank assets in US dollar terms.

“South African banks were among the hardest hit, with the rand sliding almost 19% versus the US currency last year (although) Standard retained its top position as the largest bank on the continent by tier 1 capital and assets,” said the Banker.

While assets rose 12% in local currency terms during 2011, they fell from $201bn to $183bn in dollar terms.

“This was also largely the reason why Standard’s tier 1 capital decreased from $12bn to $9,8bn in 2011, causing it to drop from 94th (position) to 112th in the ranking, leaving Africa without any banks in the top 100 (of global banks),” said The Banker.  

In the top 1000 banks for 2011, Standard had doubled tier 1 capital ahead of nearest rival FirstRand’s capital of six billion rand, which it had since grown to $8,4bn in this year’s ranking.

For the first time in the global rankings, Standard’s 20% shareholder, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), broke into the top three, displacing one of Europe’s largest banks HSBC, which fell to fourth place.

The top global bank was Bank of America, with JP Morgan Chase in second place.