While The Banker's Top 1000 World Banks ranking published every July gives an insightful and unique snapshot of the state of the global banking market, our ranking of those banks featuring just below the ranking gives an excellent indication of the way in which the market is heading, and which countries and regions are on the rise.

After leading Morgan Stanley’s equities business outside the Americas, John Hyman is working to position Renaissance Capital as a focused player in a number of very different markets across emerging Europe and Africa.

Despite a recent surge in inflation and exchange rate volatility, the prospects for Tanzanian banks are bright. With the country growing fast, banks are looking to exploit its large unbanked population and start offering more sophisticated products.

Egypt's tumultuous political landscape of the past 18 months has, predictably, had an impact on it banks. However, the sector has shown impressive resilience since the Arab Spring uprisings, focusing on SME lending and commercial activities with some degree of success. But with foreign investors staying away and further political upheaval still a possibility, the country's rebuilding process still has some way to go.

Having overseen rapid economic growth in the past three years, Ghana’s finance minister insists his government will maintain fiscal discipline before December’s elections. However, he believes fuel subsidies should remain in place, at least for now.

Ghanaian banks are worried that rising interest rates and a depreciating currency could lead to a lot of volatility in the next few months. Nonetheless, they remain in good health and are likely to benefit in the coming years from the country’s rapid economic growth.

Ghana has been hurt by the weakness of its currency since late last year. Yet its economy, one of the fastest-growing in the world, is still in rude health, and investors are said to be increasingly bullish about the country, even if they are hindered by shallow capital markets. 

While European banks count the cost of the eurozone sovereign debt crisis, China is leading the emerging markets into a new era of banking dominance. But the established markets of the US and Japan should not be forgotten.

Ghana has been a bastion of stability in a volatile west Africa for the past 20 years. It will have a chance to reassert its credentials in elections later this year and most analysts think it will succeed, despite political rhetoric becoming more heated in recent months.