Nigerian Banks Dominate Top 50 African Index – Banker Magazine

The Banker magazine, a publication of the Financial Times of London has released a regional list of top 200 banks in Africa.

Nigeria led the pack with 11 banks featuring in the Top 50. Other leaders were North Africa and South Africa.

According to the Banker, “African banks have grown rapidly in the past few years. Based on 2010 results, 19 of them have Tier 1 capital of more than $1bn, a level that roughly marks the cut-off point for the world’s biggest 500 banks.”

Only 10 banks had Tier 1 capital levels of this scale as at 2007.

Nigerian banks on the list include Zenith, FirstBank, Guaranty Trust, Access, UBA and Fidelity, First City Monument, Diamond, Skye, Stanbic IBTC, and EcoBank Nigeria.

The Banker also noted, “Nigerian banks, which have finally shaken off their crisis of 2009, will rise to the top especially with the merger of Access Bank and Intercontinental Bank which may make the new Access Bank become one of the Top 10 African Banks by asset. The scene is also looking good for Ecobank Nigeria with its merger with Oceanic Bank.”

The only other country with nearly as many banks in the Top 50 as Nigeria was Egypt with 10.