The pre-tax profits of South Africa's four largest banks totalled $8.1bn in 2012. Although this figure is more or less unchanged from 2011, they still churn out far higher profits than banks elsewhere on the continent. Standard Bank’s profits of $3.3bn on their own were roughly equal to the profits of the 10 largest sub-Saharan lenders outside South Africa.
The most profitable African bank outside of South Africa was Egyptian lender National Bank of Egypt. The state-owned bank, Africa’s 10th biggest, grew its Tier 1 capital by 24% to $2.4bn. Its profits before tax jumped to $1bn, up from $700m in 2013.
Two Moroccan banks – Attijariwafa Bank and Groupe Banques Populaire – and three Nigerian lenders made up the top 10 African banks by pre-tax profits. Nigeria's Guaranty Trust Bank, Zenith and First Bank of Nigeria all made profits before tax of more than $500m, a figure no lender from the country had reached previously.
Read the full story – Top 400 African banks ranking, 2013
