The lowering of the rand/dollar exchange rate and an increase in assets keeps the country at the top of the pile.

The top positions in this year’s listing of the Top 100 sub-Saharan

African banks are occupied by the “big five” South African banks. Last

year’s “big six” were reduced to five through the acquisition of BoE

Bank by Nedcor in mid-2002. They are joined in the listing by African

Bank at 12, and together these six account for 70% of the total Tier

One capital of the Top 100, 81.1% of the total assets and 63.8% of the

total pre-tax profit. This dominance has been aided by the return of

the rand exchange rate against the dollar to the lower levels that

pertained at the end of 2000 and in early 2001, although this is not

the only factor as these banks have all increased Tier One capital in

rand terms and four out of the six have also grown assets.

In US dollar terms, the Tier One capital of the leading bank, Standard

Bank, grew by 42.1% to $2.97bn, although the increase in local currency

was a modest 1.3%, and the other banks followed a similar pattern.

The overall total Tier One capital of the Top 100 rose by 38.2% to

$13.1bn (the same as France’s Crédit Mutuel) more than offsetting the

previous year’s decline while the combined total assets rose by 30.45%

to $214.2bn.

While South African banks dominate the listing, only one, Standard

Bank, has a significant presence in the rest of the continent outside

of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland. What then of the other banks,

which have a regional presence but are represented in our listing by

local subsidiaries only? UK-based Barclays Bank booked assets of $4242m

through its offices and subsidiaries in Africa in 2002, yielding a

pre-tax profit of $143m, while its compatriot Standard Chartered

employed total assets of $3880m, yielding $101m in the region.

Banque Belgolaise, the Brussels-based Fortis group subsidiary

responsible for Fortis’ African interests, was involved in majority or

significant minority holdings in 13 banks, which had total assets of

$2306m in 2002, yielding a pre-tax profit of $4.8m. This year

Belgolaise announced a strategic alliance with the Bank of Africa

group, which would result in Belgolaise taking up to a 20% holding in

the capital of Africa Financial Holding, the reference shareholder of

the Bank of Africa group, in 2004. As part of this deal, four banks in

the Belgolaise group would be transferred to the Bank of Africa group.

This would leave Belgolaise with direct interests predominantly in

banks in the French-speaking countries of sub-Saharan Africa, where it

competes with subsidiaries of BNP or Société Générale.

Nigeria again provides the largest block of banks in the listing with

26, with Union Bank of Nigeria (7th) and First Bank of Nigeria (10th)

being joined by United Bank for Africa (14th) in the small group of

Nigerian banks that have Tier One capital over $100m. Zenith

International Bank at $99m is knocking on the door. However, the

banking sector in Nigeria remains fragmented with significant scope for

consolidation and continues to be hit by allegations of corruption and

malpractice. Foreign-owned banks account for 22 banks in the listing.

Next, in terms of share of total Tier One capital, is Zimbabwe (five

banks) with 4.6%, and Mauritius, whose four banks account for 3.8%. The

Zimbabwean banks’ figures reflect the use of inflationary accounting as

the economy continues to deteriorate, with the consumer price index for

2002 running at 140.1%. The Mauritian banks are led by Mauritius

Commercial Bank (6th) and State Bank of Mauritius (11th), both of whom

increased their capital, and include First City Bank for the first

time.

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