Africa is changing and it is not just $11.7bn of Chinese investment in recent years that is making a difference. Nigeria’s banks are bulking up as a result of central bank governor Charles Soludo’s new capital requirements, and are becoming bigger and stronger through multiple mergers and acquisitions.
Lower oil prices have not dried out the huge liquidity available to most Middle East banks, which have continued to produce booming profits and strong growth in the region, especially in the Gulf. As a result, the number of banks from the Middle East region in the 2007 Top 1000 has increased from 83 last year to 94.
The latest Top 25 Asian listing emphasises the growing dominance of the big state-controlled Chinese banks. Following their recent record initial public offerings (IPOs), the big three state banks, led by ICBC with a Tier 1 capital of $59.2bn, and followed by Bank of China ($52.5bn) and last year’s leader, China Construction Bank ($42.3bn), have moved far away from their nearest Asian competitor, National Australia Bank with $17.5bn.
The Banker utilises the cost/income ratio as a gauge of efficiency in banks globally. There are variations in the method of calculation across different geographies, however, we try to create a worldwide picture through the data collated here.
The highest and second highest disclosed number of non-performing loans (NPLs) this year were from Philippine National Bank (PNB) at 51.63% and Myanmar Oriental Bank (MOB) at 39.15%, respectively, retaining the positions they held last year. PNB’s level has risen and MOB’s level remained the same.
As last year, competition for producing the highest number of newcomers is between the US and Germany. The US introduces 13 new banks to the global listing, representing almost a quarter of the 54 new entries, Germany boasts eight, while China and Nigeria follow with six and five respectively.