Nigeria’s top nine banks that featured in the Banker’s top global 1000 banks have a combined tier one capital of $11.332 billion.

This is lower than the $12.06bn of Standard Bank Group of South Africa which is, by capital base classification, the leading bank in Africa.

This fact is contained in the 2011 edition of the Banker Magazine, a publication of Financial Times of London. Bank of America, which occupies the first position in the global ranking, has a capital base of $163.626bn.

It is followed closely by JPMorgan Chase with a capital of $142.450bn. The third position is occupied by HSBC, a British bank with a capital base of $133.179bn. China has three banks in the top ten positions while Japan has just one.

The Banker Magazine’s endorsement has become an instrument that Central Bankers and bankers seek after as a marketing tool. The low level of capitalization of Nigerian banks, when compared to international standard, is a challenge to regulators who are at the moment busy fragmenting the industry.

The Banker Magazine, in its benchmarking of the top 1000 global, bank said that Zenith Bank PLC had, as at 2010, a total tier one capital of $2.405bn. It is followed by the first generation bank First Bank with a total of $2.221bn shareholders stake in the bank known as tier one capital.

The third highly capitalized bank by the standard of Bank of International Settlement BIS is GTbank with a tier one capital of $1.362bn. Access Bank followed closely with a capital of $1.149bn.

The United Bank for Africa (UBA), one of the oldest banks in the country, had $1.037bn as capital, making it one of the internationally recognized strong banks in the country.

Fidelity is next with $904m tier one capital. First City Monument Bank followed closely with $854m capital base. Diamond Bank had $705m while Skye Bank has $695m to feature among the 1000 top banks in the world.

However, the Nigerian banks do not rank among the top five in Africa. Zenith, which is the most capitalized bank in the country, ranks sixth in the continent. The top three banks in Africa are those from South Africa, with Standard Bank Group topping the Africa chart with a capital base of $12.062bn and is in the 94th position globally.

The second in Africa is the FirstRand Bank Holdings, South Africa, with a capital base of $6.036bn. The Needbank Group Limited also of South Africa came third in the top 25 banks in Africa with a capital of $5.716bn.

Attjariwafabank of Morocco, an Islamic Bank, is fourth with a capital base of $2.786bn. Investec of South Africa came fifth in the Banker ranking of the top 25 banks in Africa with a capital base of $2.519bn.

According to the Banker, two Nigeria banks featured in the capital adequacy ratio measurement. Fidelity Bank, the Banker, said has a capital to asset ratio of 28.8 per cent, making it the soundest bank in the country.

The report also said that First City Monument Bank, with capital to asset ratio of 23.89, made it to the 1000 soundest capital to asset ratio banks in the world.

According to the Banker, going by the Bank of International Settlement measure, Zenith was the only Nigeria bank that attained the 1000 soundest BIS ratio of 36.

The Banker report stated: “The banking landscape in Africa remains a case of potential unrealised, as its financial institutions’ share of the Top 1000’s overall assets and Tier 1 capital dipped slightly.

“However, the lowering of the average cost-to-income ratio in the continent did provide some good news.

“Africa’s banks have never constituted a significant share of the Top 1000 ranking, but with about 15 per cent of the world’s population, low levels of bank account penetration and vast natural resources, there should be no question over the continent’s banking potential.

“However, this scope for growth is not reflected in this year’s Top 1000 ranking, which featured just 30 African banks. The continent’s institutions accounted for 0.72 per cent of total assets and 1.01 per cent of total Tier 1 capital from the overall Top 1000 World Banks ranking.

Both figures are fractionally down from last year. Africa offers huge returns on investment for foreign institutions; A step in the right direction; The Gulf’s Islamic banks are targeting Africa’s opportunities”

It further said “South African banks continued to dominate the upper echelons of the African representatives in this year’s “Top 1000 World Banks”, holding four of the top five regional slots and accounting for four of the 10 highest movers.

“Standard Bank is once again Africa’s top bank. The Johannesburg-based bank increased its Tier 1 capital to $12.06bn, an increase of 26.15 per cent from last year, and a total almost twice as much as the second ranked FirstRand Bank Holdings’ $6.04bn. This was enough to place Standard Bank in at seventh in the regional highest movers table.

“For the most part, Nigerian banks halted the dramatic fall through the regional and overall rankings noted in 2010, following the implementation of much-needed reforms by The Banker’s Central Bank Governor of the Year 2011, Lamido Sanusi.

“Nevertheless, the country’s financial institutions certainly did not exhibit dramatic growth. Some, such as Zenith Bank and Guaranty Trust Bank, boosted Tier 1 capital, but others, including Mr. Sanusi’s former employer, First Bank of Nigeria, saw a decline.

None of the five new entrants made it into the African top 25, which showed little major movement. Notably absent was Libyan Foreign Bank, which was ranked ninth regionally in 2010 but did not submit data this year.

“There are some positive signs, however. The average cost-to-income ratio among African banks was 49.70 per cent, down from 61.87 per cent last year, despite an average increase in operating costs of 19.11 per cent, indicating a healthy increase in profits.

“Two Kenyan banks entered the lower reaches of the Top 1000 this year; Kenya Commercial Bank, which was the second highest mover among African institutions, thanks to 87.11 per cent Tier 1 capital growth, and Nairobi-based Equity Bank.

“It was a mixed bag for the Egyptian banking sector, one of the African success stories of 2010. The country’s institutions boosted their presence in the regional top 25 to five, but only National Bank of Egypt, Commercial International Bank and Banque Misr actually increased Tier 1 capital year on year. Arab African International Bank and Banque du Caire’s Tier 1 actually fell.


VANGUARD NEWSPAPER

sanusi is deceiving Nigerians they should remove him,

And so what? If it is true, they still came into the top 25 banks in Africa. Once was when no Nigerian bank made it into such an elite class but now they have overhauled many South African Banks. There is progresss,is what matters.Who knows what will happen in the next 5 years?

Who cares.

houvest:

And so what? If it is true, they still came into the top 25 banks in Africa. Once was when no Nigerian bank made it into such an elite class but now they have overhauled many South African Banks. There is progresss,is what matters.Who knows what will happen in the next 5 years?

Exactly. Nigeria has come a long way yet some still want to saturate themselves in self pity and premature prognosis.

Progress come dem go complain, no progress dem still wan sing same chorus abeg wetin? All this giraffing at ur neighbours own want increase your lot, remain focused and stay in your lane jare. Nigeria - slowly but surely - is getting there. (smh) all this self depreciating attitude is becoming all too tedious and melodramatic.

I stopped buying First Bank shares after Sanusi stepped in and started his mago mago "ekwuonomics".

When he became the CBN governor, I was one of those that lamented that the man was about to set us backwards. He was desperate to prove that Soludo was wrong, but all he ended up proving is that Soludo had been right. In fact he masked his true mission until he unveiled the Islamic banking.

Difference between a genius and a pretender:

Soludo: Wanted to re-denominate the Naira and re-engineer it into being the currency of reference in Africa, meaning making the Nigerian banks the pillars of Africa's finance. He figured that one of the ways to achieve that was to grow the Nigerian banks to be big enough to fund development. The man had dreams of how to make Nigeria great.

Sanusi: A former risk manager at First bank wants to (according to him) safeguard depositors funds by constantly questioning the basis of a banks profit, hence unwittingly casting doubts on these banks and scaring away investors.
And when he was done "cleaning" the banks, he launched the real thing -Islamic banking!

To those who are still ascribing greatness to this malam in our chinashop CBN, I ask you: WHAT IS HIS VISION FOR THE NIGERIAN BANKS IN AFRICA? WHAT IS HIS VISION FOR THE NAIRA?

If you can't answer these, then, you are a partly responsible for the systematic emasculation of the Nigerian economy, all in the name of Islam.