East Africa is without doubt one of the most dynamic banking areas, with banks reaching throughout borders into neighbouring international locations whereas persevering with to push trade frontiers as they vie with one another and telecommunications corporations together with Safaricom and Airtel to dominate cellular banking and monetary companies. A lot of the motion is within the aggressive Kenyan market, funding gateway to the area, which contributes 10 banks to the regional high 20 rating.
Throughout the area, banks have been growing their earnings, on the one hand boosted each by inflation and by rising rates of interest and then again held again by declines within the Kenyan shilling and Ethiopian birr in comparison with the US greenback, and to a lesser extent the Ugandan and Tanzanian shillings.
Fairness Financial institution of Kenya once more tops the desk with the group holding Tier 1 capital of $1.5bn, belongings of $11.7bn and earnings of $364m. Second is the KCB group. Each banks are consolidated at group degree, the place their outcomes embody belongings outdoors their principal nation. KCB’s in-country Kenya Business Financial institution can be by itself the nation’s greatest with $718m in capital.
Ethiopia, whose economic system is quick liberalising, has 4 banks within the regional high 20, led once more by state-owned Business Financial institution of Ethiopia with Tier 1 capital of $929m and earnings of $304m, based mostly on the identical figures as utilized in final yr’s rating. Awash Worldwide Financial institution elevated its Tier 1 capital to $299m however slips from final yr’s #13 to #14 within the area. Dashen Financial institution boosted Tier 1 capital from $192m to $282m to climb from #17 to #15.
The image is more likely to maintain altering as Ethiopia progressively opens its banking system to international competitors in step with a coverage permitted by the Council of Ministers in September 2022. There are talks of future acquisitions by African and worldwide banks, and Kenya’s Safaricom obtained a cellular cash licence in Might 2023.
Ethiopia’s Financial institution of Abyssinia and state-owned Improvement Financial institution of Ethiopia drop out of the regional rankings, as lots of their regional rivals have boosted Tier 1 capital.
Uganda has three banks within the regional rating, up from two final yr. Normal Chartered Financial institution Uganda is ranked #19, with Tier 1 capital of $219m and web earnings of $27m. Stanbic Financial institution Uganda climbed to #11 as Tier 1 capital rose to $367m with earnings of $99m. Uganda’s second largest financial institution, Centenary Rural Improvement Financial institution (with Tier 1 capital of $251m) displaces DFCU Financial institution within the regional high 20.
Centenary (#16 within the area) focuses on schooling, atmosphere well being, monetary literacy and the social mission of the Catholic Church. In March 2023 it introduced the primary cross-border growth of a Ugandan financial institution after it gained a banking licence in Malawi.
Tanzania has two banks within the regional rating, and Rwanda has one, each unchanged from final yr. One signal of the regional power in banking is the hovering baseline because the Tier 1 capital of the financial institution ranked #20 is $210m, up from $159m in 2022.
The regional High 20
The High 100 Banks survey ranks the banks in response to their Tier 1 capital. This consists of: capital + reserves + retained earnings + minority pursuits. These are revealed in native currencies after which transformed into US {dollars} on the trade charges on the year-end date within the outcomes (or on 31 December 2022), so altering FX charges can have an effect on the rating.
We accumulate the info from Bankers’ Almanac, Moody’s Analytics BankFocus and the in-house analysis of African Enterprise, excluding some banks the place information is previous or unreliable. The desk beneath lists the High 20 banks within the East African area together with their positions within the continental rating.
Supply: african.business
