African banks have grown rapidly in the past few years. Based on 2010 results, 19 of them have Tier 1 capital of more than $1bn, a level that roughly marks the cut-off point for the world’s biggest 500 banks.
This is an impressive rise for Africa, which had only 10 banks with $1bn of Tier 1 capital or more at the end of 2007. Moreover, 31 lenders on the continent now have capital strength of $500m or more, compared with just 13 in 2007.
