This year’s African banks ranking offers another snapshot of a continent on the rise. In aggregate terms, Africa’s top 100 lenders, measured by their year-end 2014 Tier 1 capital, recorded stellar gains according to most metrics. Total assets hit $1230bn accompanied by year-on-year asset growth of 5.03%. Encouragingly, these assets are being put to good use. The aggregate return on assets for these banks was 2.2% while their year-on-year pre-tax profit growth was a healthy 10.32%. The total value of pre-tax profits for 2014 edged slightly over $27bn. Meanwhile, the aggregate return on capital of the top 100 lenders hit a staggering 27.6%, up from the 25% recorded in the 2015 ranking.
Within this bigger picture some markets have excelled by surpassing regional average performance figures, while others have fared less favourably. In particular, the impact of lower commodity prices, coupled with more stringent regulations, among other factors, had started to weigh on some lenders by the end of 2014. Elsewhere, encouraging political and economic reforms are opening up new frontiers for the continent’s banking sector, allowing higher growth markets to show their longer term promise.
