LAGOS — Thirteen Nigerian banks have
been listed among the Leading 1000 Global
Banks as published by The Banker
magazine of the Financial Times Group
in its 2014 edition.
The Nigerian banks that made the ranking
based on Tier-1 capital are Zenith Bank,
Guaranty Trust Bank, FirstBank, Access
Bank, United Bank for Africa, Fidelity Bank
and Ecobank Nigeria.
Others are Skye Bank, First City Monument
Bank, Diamond Bank, Stanbic IBTC
Holdings, Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria
and Union Bank of Nigeria.
The report, which was released weekend,
said banks in the world, for the first time
since the global financial crisis, returned
profit of $920 billion which is 23 per cent
more than their previous peak of $786
billion achieved in 2007 before the financial
crisis.
The report, which listed 13 Nigerian banks
that made the ranking, underlines
Nigeria’s financial sector’s leading position
in Africa as no other African country has
up to 13 banks in the Top 1000 World
listing of banks.
According to the report, Zenith Bank
ranked top in Nigeria at 293 as Guaranty
Trust is on number 415, FirstBank on
number 424, Access Bank 532, United
Bank for Africa ranked 539 and Fidelity
622.
The report said profit on capital of three
Nigerian banks that are not foreign-owned
subsidiaries increased. These are FirstBank,
that has its profit on capital increased to
25.32 per cent from 25.13 per cent; Access
Bank, from 21.19 per cent to 21.24 per cent
and First City Monument Bank, 15.77 per
cent from 15.07 per cent.
23% increase in profit
Editor of the magazine, Mr. Brain Caplen,
noted that the 23 per cent increase in
profit of global banks from 2007 “is a
good news but the better news is that
capital has also increased at a reasonable
pace whereas assets have stayed flat. This
means that returns on capital are only
slightly improved but the hope is that this
upturn is more sustainable than the last
one.”
Caplen disclosed that a large proportion of
the profit is from China— about 32 per
cent of the total which is more than the
next three highest profit countries of USA,
Japan and Canada combined.
Highest in Africa
Of the 25 top banks in Africa from the
ranking, the highest of eight is from
Nigeria, the largest economy in the
continent while the United Bank for Africa
is the only Nigerian bank in the top 10
highest movers in Africa.
In all, Africa has 31 banks in the Top 1000
World Banks 2014 with Nigeria having 13
representing 41.94 per cent. The 31 African
banks in the ranking are from nine
countries: Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt,
Angola, Gabon, Kenya, Mauritius, Morocco
and Togo.
Globally, Senior Editor of the magazine,
Philip Alexander, stressed that banks in
this 2014 ranking “are stronger than ever”
as “the level of capital held by banks in
this ranking continues to accelerate, with
the minimum Tier 1 capital required to
enter the Top 1000 World Banks now fast
appraching $400 million. This has almost
doubled since the 2005 ranking,” he
added.
The Banker, a publication of Financial
Times Newspaper which is regarded as
the most influential newspaper in the
world, is a global financial intelligence
magazine published since 1926. It is the
definitive publication that provides guide to
bank ratings and analysis globally and the
definitive reference on international banking
for finance experts, governments, chief
finance officers, CEOs, Central Bank
Governors, Finance Ministers, and other
decision makers globally.
According to The Global Capital Markets
Surveys (GCMS), the only independent
media benchmarking study available in the
capital markets industry and provides
insight into who reads what at the world’s
financial institutions, among monthly
finance titles globally, The Banker is
number one monthly finance title read
globally, in capital markets; Europe, Middle
East and Africa (EMEA) region; emerging
markets and bank as well as financial
institutions in the world.