Sub-Saharan Africa provides 18 banks in the 2007 Top 1000, a big increase from just 10 banks two years ago. And a key contributory change is that South Africa is now not the only banking force in the Top 1000 – Nigeria and others are beginning to play a part.
Although the five South African banks dominated last year’s Sub-Saharan listing of 15 banks, accounting for 83.9% of the combined Tier 1 capital of $17bn, the 2007 ranking shows the 11 Nigerian banks taking a much larger share of the African banking pie along with banks from Togo and Mauritius. This year, the South Africans expanded their total Tier 1 capital by 34.3% but now only account for 72% of the aggregate $22.8bn, a larger total ($16.4bn) but a lower proportion.
