COUNTRY INDEX
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ANGOLA |
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Best Bank: Banco Angolano de Investimentos |
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Best Investment Bank: Standard Bank Angola |
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It was a strong year for Banco Angolano de Investimentos. The Luanda-based lender posted net income of NKz142 billion ($334 million) in 2021, an increase of 388% over the previous year. However, its financials must be seen in context. All of Angola’s banks had a tough 2020: in the first Covid-hit year, BAI’s net income slipped to NKz29 billion.
But the bank’s recovery again highlights its innate strength – under its chief executive, Luis Lélis – and its ability to bounce back fast from a domestic or external crisis.
Its strong performance in 2021 is doubly impressive when set against prevailing market conditions: the kwanza appreciated 15% against the US dollar last year, with inflation at 27%.
BAI retains its position as Angola’s leading lender, controlling 18% of the assets in the domestic banking sector and 26% of all point-of-sale devices. It posted a return on equity and assets of 39.9% and 4.6% in 2021, against 9.7% and 1% respectively a year ago.
The bank made strides in digital, adding new services to its Directo and Paga applications, including a QR code reader, and upgrading e-kwanza, the first mobile money service to be introduced in Angola. The new initiatives were all part of its 2022 to 2027 strategic plan, which was rolled out during the awards period.
Standard Bank is the clear winner of the award for Angola’s best investment bank this year. The Johannesburg-headquartered lender played a significant role in 11 landmark capital markets deals during the awards period.
Foremost on the list is the privatization of Banco de Comercio e Industria (BCI), which was founded in 1991 and is 91% owned by the Angolan government, with the remaining equity controlled by domestic corporates, including Angola Telecom and energy group Sonangol.
Standard Bank won the mandate to advise BCI, as the state seeks to cut its control of the financial institution as part of a hugely ambitious programme launched in 2019 to privatize 190 state-run firms and assets.
Choosing Standard Bank, which is present in 20 countries across the region, to lead the first privatization in over a decade makes good sense. The bank describes the unwinding of BCI as a “landmark deal” that will have a “lasting impact” in Angola.
Another key mandate saw Standard Bank structure a NKz11 billion ($26.3 million) multi-currency and multi-product facility for one of the world’s largest logistics firms, allowing it to import and assemble two new cranes to handle large containers in Luanda’s port. Standard Bank was mandated lead arranger on a deal that will improve efficiency and boost capacity in an already crowded port. The facility comprised an import letter of credit, foreign exchange and a medium-term loan to mitigate FX and transfer and convertibility risk.
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CÔTE D’IVOIRE |
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Best Bank: Societe Generale Côte d’Ivoire |
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The Ivorian arm of Societe Generale had a solid year, posting a net profit of CFEFr67.43 billion ($110 million) in 2021, up 39% year on year.
The award for the country’s best bank is well deserved. Societe Generale Côte d’Ivoire is often described as the jewel in the crown of the French lender. It is the dominant player in the largest economy in Francophone western Africa and the clear market leader in terms of profits, assets and revenues.
Its other key financial metrics were all up sharply last year. The bank posted a 26% rise in assets and a 21.92% rise in equity, with operating profit up 35.52%. The market value of its locally listed shares jumped 67% in the 12 months to the end of March 2022 and, as of June 3, is up 32% year to date.
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DR CONGO |
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Best Bank: Rawbank |
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A consistently robust bank in a chronically unstable country, Rawbank deserves particular praise. The Kinshasa-based lender turns 20 years old this year and only gets stronger with age.
It posted a net profit of $41.9 million in 2021, with pre-tax profits rising 10.9% year on year to $48.7 million. Rawbank also reported a 45.6% rise in assets, to $4.22 billion, with deposits up 45.9% to $3.21 billion. Its return on equity and assets came in at 15.73% and 0.96% in 2021, against -21.79% and -1.61% respectively in the previous, Covid-hit year. It trimmed expenses in the awards period, with its cost-to-income ratio falling to 74.74%.
Rawbank’s corporate and institutional banking division unveiled a raft of new or updated services, including a secure payment-order integration system, and Optimus, a cash management service dedicated to serving local firms with overseas operations. And it introduced new services tailored to civil servants (Pack Fonctionnaire), students (Pack Academia) and high net-worth customers, with Pack Prestige and Pack Infinite.
Rawbank also unveiled Illico Cash, an app-based solution that lets customers send, withdraw and transfer money, access accounts, top up mobile accounts and pay utility bills online. A tip of the cap too, for its new China Express service, a new suite of services catering to China-facing importers and exporters.
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GHANA |
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Best Bank: Fidelity Bank |
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Best Investment Bank: Stanbic Bank Ghana |
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Fidelity Bank is the clear winner of the award for Ghana’s best bank. The Accra-based lender posted a net profit of C341.5 million ($43.4 million) in 2021, up 35% year on year, with pre-tax profits up 32% to C504.5 million, boosted by higher assets, lower costs and better asset quality. Operating income rose 14%, passing the C1 billion mark for the first time.
The bank is thriving under the leadership of managing director Julian Kingsley Opuni. It is well funded – its capital adequacy ratio stood at 26% at the end of 2021, against 21% a year earlier – with its share of total sector-wide deposits and assets both up one percentage point last year to 7%. In the first quarter of 2022, net interest income jumped 35% to C478.1 billion, with net profit rising 21.3% year on year to C108.7 million.
Fidelity Bank has long been an innovator. In the awards period it deployed an enhanced app that lets clients invest funds in a range of government bonds and treasury bills, and a bancassurance solution engineered with Prudential Life Insurance Ghana. The latter’s services include digital onboarding, premium calculations and recurring payments.
On the deal side, Fidelity Bank helped the Republic of Ghana tap the international debt markets in April 2021. The $3 billion print was two times oversubscribed and it made Ghana the first sub-Saharan African sovereign to issue a Eurobond since the start of the pandemic. It was also on hand to help the government issue a $500 million zero-coupon bond, which was also two times oversubscribed, demonstrating strong international support for Ghana’s economic story and fiscal consolidation efforts.
Stanbic Bank Ghana’s success this year manifests itself in two ways. The first is its financials. The investment bank posted a 21% year-on-year rise in local revenues in 2021, with net profit up 34%.
The other is deal flow. Stanbic won a series of key mandates during the awards period. It was joint lead manager on the Republic of Ghana’s $3.025 billion Eurobond, printed in April 2021. It included the sale of 20, 12 and seven-year securities, as well as $525 million worth of four-year zero-coupon instruments, as part of a plan to free up capital to invest in healthcare and education.
Under the leadership of chief executive Kwamina Asomaning, Stanbic Bank Ghana’s investment banking team also arranged 17 medium and long-term local currency treasury bonds in the year to the end of March 2022. The list includes a C1.86 billion ($237 million) seven-year issue in June 2021, a C2.25 billion, five-year treasury bond in May 2021 and a $169 million five-year offering in November. Stanbic was joint lead bookrunner on all three.
It acted as joint mandated lead arranger, lender and account bank on a $120 million, five-year syndicated term loan facility for state-run power generator Volta River Authority, with proceeds used to refinance debt. Stanbic was mandated lead arranger and bookrunner on a C75 million dual-tranche local currency bond issued in June 2021 by Bayport Savings & Loan, an offering that was 1.25 times oversubscribed.
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KENYA |
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Best Bank: Kenya Commercial Bank |
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Best Investment Bank: Stanbic Kenya |
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Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) is again Kenya’s best bank this year. Its 131% increase in net earnings to KSh25.2 billion ($215 million) in the nine months to September 2021 was certainly helped by the release of Covid-related loan provisions, but it also reflected a strong financial performance during the awards period.
KCB’s balance sheet grew 15% in the nine months to September 2021 following a 12% increase in gross lending across Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda. Customer deposits were up 11% and revenues grew by 16% to KSh79.9 billion thanks to an increase in interest income and a lower cost of funding. However, costs were up 9% over the same period.
The bank has completed its acquisition of a 62% stake in Banque Populaire du Rwanda, part of an expansion strategy that will also see it acquire 100% of African Banking Corporation Tanzania. National Bank of Kenya, which KCB acquired in 2019, posted a KSh1.1 billion profit after tax for the nine months to September 2021, following a KSh5 billion capital injection from KCB.
The bank has continued to focus on digital investment and its KCB Mobile and Internet Banking app helped to drive 260.8 million mobile banking transactions last year. This represents an increase in non-branch transactions of 55% to KSh1.8 trillion.
Recently, KCB introduced a retailer financing service for micro and small to medium-sized enterprises businesses (MSMEs) to its mobile banking wallet Vooma. This offers cash flow-based weekly loans to meet working capital requirements. It has expanded the bank’s agency network and increased digital payment volumes and options to load cash.
MSMEs are the backbone of Kenya’s economic recovery from Covid and KCB has relaunched its MSME offering to accelerate this process. As part of the ‘Partner Kwa Ground’ campaign, launched in November last year, the bank is part of a KSh3 billion partial guarantee scheme to help MSMEs recover from the effects of the pandemic. This is provided in collaboration with the government and six other banks and provides liquidity to a sector that was particularly hard hit by Covid. KCB has also restructured KSh7.5 billion SME loans providing repayment holidays and moratoriums to over 3,500 SME customers.
Stanbic Kenya completed another busy 12 months across debt capital markets and advisory, acting on most of the key deals in the country during the awards period. On the advisory side, Stanbic has been appointed independent adviser to the Safaricom Board as part of the $850 million consortium bid for a communications licence from the Ethiopian Communications Authority. This is Safaricom’s first step to operate a significant telecommunications business outside Kenya and involves a very substantial financial commitment for the firm.
The bank lead managed the $400 million refinancing of the one-year bridge facility backing the licence acquisition fees associated with the deal – receiving the highest allocation in the primary market syndication, which was led by Standard Chartered.
Stanbic was also the sole lender on the KSh5.96 billion ($50.7 million) balance sheet restructuring term loan for East African Breweries and acted as global coordinator and co-lender on M-Kopa’s $36 million loan to fund smartphone adoption among lower income segments – a key gateway to financial inclusion.
The bank was also part of a Citi-led consortium that arranged a $75 million equivalent local currency sustainable finance facility for Greenlight Planet Kenya, a leader in off-grid solar home solutions.
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MAURITIUS |
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Best Bank: Mauritius Commercial Bank |
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Mauritius is an open, services-dominated, upper middle-income economy, which enjoyed average annual economic growth of 3.8% from 2015 to 2019 but then suffered a shocking 14.9% decline in 2020.
Tourism accounts for 22% of employment on the island and a similar portion of the economy. And the recovery in 2021 to 5% growth was subdued thanks to lower than hoped for tourist arrivals.
Bank results have recently been dominated first by the rise of non-performing loans and related provisions and then, in more recent quarters, by the decline in credit costs. So, for example, the country’s second largest bank, SBM Bank (Mauritius), which reports as part of SBM Holdings, enjoyed a 70% increase in profits in 2021 compared with 2020, although most of that came from declining credit costs.
Analysts have to be wary of direct comparisons because the country’s largest bank, Mauritius Commercial Bank (MCB), reports on a financial year ending in June. So it’s 2021 results to the end of June 2021 show a much lower 1.4% rise in profits. Back then it was still building provisions. When it reported six-month figures to the end of December 2021, MCB showed a 29.5% surge in profit.
Looking beyond the headline numbers, MCB remains the country’s best bank thanks both to its efficiency and its sheer size. Around 70% of the island’s population has an MCB account; it commands a 40% share of system deposits, compared with SBM’s 18%; and its 44.5% share of net loans and advances compares to a 16.6% share for SBM.
MCB reported a return on average assets of 1.4% for the six months to the end of December 2021, a return on average equity of 13.2% and a cost-to-income ratio of 37.7%. That compares to full-year 2021 figures for SBM showing a return on average equity of 10.35%. The smaller bank is improving and becoming a more serious challenger to its larger rival, but that requires continued investment including in people, which is pushing staff costs up at SBM.
There is a battle on here as MCB Group, under chief executive Pierre Guy Noel, also continues to invest in new technology and is now partnering with Backbase to improve its apps and join-up its technology architecture.
MCB also continues to grow earnings from outside Mauritius. In a key move to support its international expansion, it successfully tapped the global financial markets and secured a syndicated medium-term facility of $1 billion arranged by a consortium of six international banks.
At the time it was concluded, the facility represented the largest financing to a corporate borrower in Africa.
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MOROCCO |
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Best Bank: Attijariwafa Bank |
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Attijariwafa Bank remains Morocco’s best bank as well as its biggest. Euromoney’s own customer surveys show it consistently ranking alongside the global leaders for cash management services in the country. In the most recent survey it overtook Citi and ranked second only to Societe Generale in serving Morocco’s leading corporates.
A pan-African group with 3,533 branches in Morocco, 290 in north Africa, 1,057 in west Africa and 895 in central Africa, it is also a leader in trade finance for the whole continent.
In Morocco, it boasts a 25% share of customer deposits and loans, although it faces growing competition from Bank of Africa, its largest domestic rival.
Financial performance improved markedly in 2021 following the shock of Covid the previous year, when Morocco suffered one of the sharpest slowdowns among the larger economies of the Middle East and north Africa because of its dependence on tourism.
Attijariwafa reported net income up 66% for 2021 compared to a year earlier thanks to the normalization in cost of risk, which declined by 34%, as well as to strict cost control. It also managed to grow assets as the recovery began – by 5% for the group as a whole.
In Morocco, it disbursed Dh8.1 billion ($799 million) of new mortgage loans, which was a 15% increase over 2020 and, perhaps more tellingly, 8% higher than in 2019.
Moroccan banks continued to work to support businesses large and small through disbursement of government backed Damane loans. Highlighting its importance to the banking system, Attijariwafa accounted for a 31% share of disbursement to corporations and an eye-catching 72% share of disbursements to small and medium-sized enterprises in the country.
The year 2021 also marked an acceleration of the bank’s technological and digital transformation. The number of connections on digital platforms totalled 257.1 million in 2021, up 53.3% compared with 2020.
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MOZAMBIQUE |
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Best Bank: Millennium bim |
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Best Investment Bank: Standard Bank |
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Millennium bim continues to grow profitably and now has a network of 199 branches throughout the country. However, it also maintains a focus on strong investment in technology and has launched a number of initiatives to enhance its digital offering. Around 62% of the bank’s customers now actively use digital services each month and 90% of top up purchases for cell phones and electricity, for example, are made through digital channels.
During the awards period the bank launched Millennium Top, a digital service for premium customers. It is aimed at private customers with a digital profile and is focused on TOP debit and credit cards, TOP Credit Nova Vida, MTop and MTop+ transactional packages. The latter comprise a wide range of products, services and operations made available at a single price to both individual and corporate customers.
In February this year, Millennium bim and Carteira Móvel (TMcel), which operates the mKesh electronic money service, signed an interoperability agreement. This means that the former is the only bank in Mozambique offering interoperability with all mobile networks in the country (Vodacom Telecom, Movitel Telecom and TMcel Telecom).
Full year results for 2021 showed a 40.5% rise in net income to Mt7.4 billion ($115.8 million), which is attributed to improvement in net interest income and net commissions. The numbers were also helped by the sale of its 70% stake in insurer Seguradora Internacional de Moçambique, which operates under the brand Ímpar, to Mozambique-based insurance group Fidelidade in December last year. This was accompanied by an improvement in non-performing loans to Mt300 million in 2021 from Mt2.4 billion a year earlier.
The bank enhanced its microcredit product during the year with new consultation and settlement functionality. Over Mt82 million was disbursed through this product last year. It also introduced a new invoice discount credit product available to small and medium-sized enterprises, with collateral for receivables and coverage of up to 90% of the invoice value.
In October last year investment banking in Mozambique was in the headlines for all the wrong reasons with Credit Suisse’s $475 million settlement associated with the country’s tuna bond scandal. The twin challenges of reduced commodity exports and insurgent activity in the north of the country – targeting liquefied natural gas (LNG) production – continue to present challenges to capital markets activity.
Nevertheless, despite being suspended from the foreign exchange market, Standard Bank held its own in investment banking last year. It grew its loan book by 8.5% and was the only financial institution in Mozambique to successfully issue a debt capital markets instrument on behalf of a client during 2021.
During the awards period the bank acted as mandated lead arranger on Mozambique LNG’s $485 million project financing loan and on TotalEnergies Mozambique’s Mt2 billion ($31.3 million) acquisition of BP Mozambique’s downstream oil and gas assets. Among other deals it also extended loans to Coca Cola Beverages Africa Mozambique, Bayport Financial Services Mozambique and hotel group JAT Constroi.
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NIGERIA |
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Best Bank: Access Bank |
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Best Investment Bank: Chapel Hill Denham |
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Access Bank served up another strong year, posting a profit of N160 billion ($385 million) in 2021, up 51.1% year on year. Net interest income rose 15% to $711 million, with assets up 35% and loans and advances rising 23% from a year earlier. Return on equity stood at 17.8% at the end of last year, with the bank’s capital adequacy ratio rising to 24.5%. Its non-performing loan ratio fell to 4% at the end of 2021, against 10% at the time of its merger with Diamond Bank in 2019.
The new year started well too, with the Lagos-based banking group posting a net profit of N57.4 billion in the first quarter of 2022. Income from commissions and fees rose 36.4% over the previous year, with income from securities trading jumping 423%.
In the wake of the merger, the enlarged group set out to be a leader in digital banking. Its success is undeniable. The group generated N66.28 billion in income from e-banking in 2021, up 18% year on year. Last year it accounted for 80% of loans, in value terms, disbursed digitally by domestic lenders. It also introduced a facial recognition-based payment solution.
It is a time of positive change for Access Bank. In March 2022, the board named Roosevelt Ogbonna as its new chief executive and managing director. It has restructured itself as a holding company, with the aim of diversifying its earnings base and expanding its remit across the region. The bank’s Access Africa initiative, which enables companies to transfer funds across the continent, recorded volumes of $202 million in 2021 with more than 35,000 transactions.
In the capital markets, the bank issued a $500 million 144A/Reg S additional tier-1 Eurobond in October 2021, boosting its capital base and moving it closer to full Basel III compliance.
Chapel Hill Denham ranked joint first in Nigeria equity capital markets in the 12 months to the end of March 2022. And it was also another strong year in debt capital markets for the Lagos-based institution, which completed three deals worth $966 million.
The investment bank completed a raft of big-ticket deals in Africa’s largest economy over the 12-month awards period. It was joint bookrunner on the Federal Republic of Nigeria’s $1.25 billion, seven-year Eurobond, printed in March 2022; and lead manager and bookrunner on Access Bank’s $500 million senior Eurobond and $500 million sale of perpetual fixed-rate tier-1 subordinated notes, both finalized in October 2021.
Other notable debt offerings included a trio of issues by the sovereign, including a $1.25 billion, 30-year Eurobond, priced in September 2021, and a N137.3 billion ($331 million) offering by Lagos’s state government – the largest domestic currency bond completed in Nigeria. It also helped quick service restaurant operator Eat ‘n’ Go to raise N3.5 billion via an oversubscribed series-2 bond offering.
It advised Access Bank on the $22.5 million merger of its Zambian division with Atlas Mara Zambia. The investment bank was financial adviser to Flour Mills of Nigeria (FMN) on its acquisition of a controlling stake in Honeywell Flour Mills and it advised FMN on the internal merger of 11 group subsidiaries.
Infrastructure continues to play a key role in the country’s development. Chapel Hill Denham worked with the Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund to create the first listed infrastructure credit fund in sub-Saharan Africa and it led Pan African Towers’ debut, N10 billion infrastructure bond. The oversubscribed sale demonstrated rising demand for blue-chip digital infrastructure investments at home and across the region.
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RWANDA |
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Best Bank: Bank of Kigali |
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Bank of Kigali had another stellar year. The lender, which boasts 424,000 retail customers and 36,700 corporate clients, posted a 35% year-on-year increase in net profit to RF5.8 billion ($5.7 million) in 2021, driven by a 20.8% rise in interest income and double-digit growth across all key performance metrics. It also recorded a 41.4% growth in non interest income to RF4.2 billion, as trade and economic growth picked up.
The new year started off well too for the bank and its chief executive Diane Karusisi. Pre-tax profit jumped 44.4% year on year in the first quarter of 2022, with assets up 22.4% and deposits rising 21.7%. Total assets stood at RF1.7 trillion at the end of last year, up 22.3% from the same period a year earlier.
Bank of Kigali got busy on the digital front during the awards period. It launched a revamped and upgraded online platform – including enhanced security features – that caters to diaspora clients. It provides a more seamless customer experience and the ability to buy foreign currency and process bulk payments.
It also migrated to a new core banking system, with the Temenos 24 platform helping the bank break free from legacy constraints and accelerate its digital transformation. It’s all part of an ambitious plan to double its roster of retail and small and medium-sized enterprise clients to more than one million by the end of 2022.
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SOUTH AFRICA |
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Best Bank: FirstRand |
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Best Investment Bank: Goldman Sachs |
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FirstRand has had a great year. The Johannesburg-listed lender posted a net profit of R16.72 billion ($1.08 billion) in the six months to the end of 2021, against R11.93 billion the previous year. Interim net interest income came in at R28.95 billion, up from R22.14 billion for the same period a year earlier. Return on equity was 20.1% at the end of 2021, against 15.6% a year earlier, with a common equity tier-1 ratio of 13.6%.
The bank expects its first-half numbers to be even more positive, tipping headline earnings to grow by more than 20% in the 12 months to the end of June 2022 thanks to rising net interest income, improved demand for loans and higher insurance premiums.
FirstRand has emerged as a leading regional innovator across digital financial services. Raj Makanjee, the bank’s chief digital officer, has described data as being “core to the strategy” of creating a “disruptive digital platform” that delivers more personalized offerings to the bank’s clients.
It has used its constantly growing digital platform to bolt on a variety of services tailored to local clientele. It claims to have the largest ‘virtual garage’ in Africa – home to 700,000 cars and counting. This allows customers to scan their driver’s licence, manage and process renewals, pay traffic fines and buy or sell new automobiles. Under the bank’s fuel rewards proposition, eBucks, FirstRand pays clients to swipe a payment card at a petrol station rather than paying with cash, further embedding them in its digital platform.
FirstRand’s mobile wallet now boasts seven million active customers, with R30 billion flowing through the service on an annual basis.
Goldman Sachs also had a very good year in South Africa. The US bank has invested heavily in the market, moving to a larger office in Johannesburg, adding FX and fixed income products that target corporate and institutional investors, and securing a licence to trade futures. In September 2021, it hired Simon Denny, former head of Africa banking at Barclays and made him South Africa chief executive.
The impact has been felt across the capital markets. Goldman ranked second in equity capital markets in the awards period, completing three deals worth $341 million; and in the debt capital markets space it was present on three transactions worth $1.36 billion, according to Dealogic.
But it was in M&A that the firm really shone. Goldman Sachs advised on six completed transactions worth $42 billion, for an 85% share of the market. In the process it pipped Morgan Stanley to the number-one spot.
The big transaction of the year was a mammoth $46.2 billion share swap finalized by Naspers and Dutch conglomerate Prosus in August 2021. Goldman was financial adviser to Prosus on the deal. It acted as financial adviser to Nordic insurance group Sampo on its purchase, in alliance with Rand Merchant Investment Holdings, of Hastings. Sampo paid £685 million for a 30% stake in the UK insurer.
Goldman Sachs also advised on the sale of 16 air separation units, controlled by South Africa-based integrated energy and chemicals group Sasol, to France’s Air Liquide. The bank advised Sasol, which has been a partner of the Paris-based firm for the past 40 years, on the $490 million deal, which was completed in November 2021.
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TANZANIA |
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Best Bank: CRDB Bank |
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Best Investment Bank: Stanbic Bank Tanzania |
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CRDB Bank posted record results in 2021. The Dar es Salaam-based lender generated a net profit of TSh267.6 billion ($114.7 million) in the calendar year, against TSh165.2 billion a year earlier – a rise of 62%.
The bank posted a non-performing loan ratio of 3.3% at the end of 2021, against 4.4% a year earlier and 5.5% the year before that. Its return on equity was 22%, against 16.3% in 2020 and just 13.8% in 2019. Capital is not a problem: it reported a tier-1 capital ratio of 20% at the end of 2021 versus 16.3% in 2020.
CRDB continues to innovate across the board. During the awards period it adopted its first environmental, social and governance framework and embedded climate financing in its credit offering. As of the end of 2021, it had disbursed a total of $100 million in funding to domestic climate resilience projects and to technology adaptation across agriculture.
It bolstered its status as a leading provider of funding to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). Total lending to small and medium-sized enterprises rose 17% in 2021 to TSh563 billion, with lending to MSMEs jumping 36% to TSh103 billion. The number of new small business customers banking with CRDB rose by 259,000 in 2021, up 57% on an annualized basis. And it is a leader in digital too. At the end of 2021, the bank boasted 10.4 million digital customers, against 7.4 million a year earlier.
Tanzania rarely makes waves in the capital markets space. But that doesn’t mean investment banks don’t compete over the deals that do take place. When transactions do happen, Stanbic Bank Tanzania is usually involved.
In the 12 months to the end of March 2022, two deals in particular stand out. The first was a revolving credit facility for Geita Gold, completed in the fourth quarter of 2021. Stanbic’s local investment banking unit was a participant lender on the $150 million revolver, which raised fresh capital to fund the mining group’s operations. Stanbic’s contribution to the revolver was increased to TSh58.5 billion ($25.1 million) from TSh36 billion, making it the largest onshore participant lender in the deal.
Another key deal was sugar cane producer TPC’s $6.5 million medium-term loan. Stanbic Bank Tanzania was sole lender on the five-year deal, arranging the facility and structuring it to meet the group’s capex plans. It marked TPC’s third visit to the market in the past four years; Stanbic has played a lead role in all of them.
The bank was also lead arranger on the United Republic of Tanzania’s $30 million, seven-year senior term loan, finalized in the second quarter of 2021, with the aim of shoring up the sovereign’s finances and supporting key infrastructure projects.
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TUNISIA |
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Best Bank: Amen Bank |
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Tunisia’s first privately owned bank is again a worthy winner of the award for the country’s best bank. Tunis-based Amen Bank posted net banking income of TD455 million ($150.3 million) in 2021, up 13.6% year on year. Operating income rose 2% on an annualized basis, boosted by lower operating expenses, which slid 8% over the previous year.
It posted a return on equity of 11.29% last year and return on assets of 1.47%. Customer deposits rose 8.2% year on year in 2021 to TD6.34 billion, with loans up 4% to TD6.25 billion. Amen Bank’s cost-to-income ratio fell to 40.68% at the end of last year, with its tier-1 capital ratio jumping to 16.61% from 11.99%.
During the awards period the bank also secured a $14 million capital injection from Sanad, a fund created by German development bank KfW to financially support local micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. Amen Bank is also a leading domestic innovator in the digital space. During the awards period it updated its security platform, ensuring that every digital transaction is screened and fully secure.
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UGANDA |
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Best Bank: Stanbic Bank Uganda |
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Stanbic Bank Uganda is a powerhouse in Uganda from retail to corporate and investment banking.
The lender posted a net profit of USh275 billion ($73 million) in 2021, up 13.2% year on year, with customer deposits rising 5.41% to USh5.74 trillion. A division of Standard Bank, it boasts the largest balance sheet of any lender in the east African market, with a single obligor lending limit at the end of 2021 of $86 million.
Stanbic Bank Uganda has been busy. In April 2021 it launched Quantum Trade, an end-to-end digital trading platform that enables corporate clients to swiftly access letters of credit and domestic guarantees.
Its investment banking team completed a host of notable transactions. Stanbic unit SBG Securities was sponsoring brokerage on the initial public offering of MTN Uganda, which raised USh536 billion in December 2021. That marked the largest IPO in the country’s history and the first domestic primary listing in more than three years.
In the run-up to the listing, Stanbic unveiled an e-trading initiative with telecoms firm MTN and the Uganda Securities Exchange, allowing retail investors to create a securities account and buy and sell shares via USSD or the myMTN application. It led to more than 65,000 new securities central depositary accounts being opened, with 90% of retail investors subscribing for MTN shares through the new platform.
Stanbic Bank Uganda also helped M-Kopa, a pioneer in pay-as-you-go solar energy, to raise $36 million – $11 million in Uganda shillings and the rest in US dollars. It was global coordinator and co-lender on the deal, which was completed in the fourth quarter of 2021. It was also a co-lender on a $20 million capital raise for Uganda Breweries in May 2021, with the proceeds allocated to capital expenditure.
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ZAMBIA |
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Best Bank: Zambia National Commercial Bank |
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Best Investment Bank: Stanbic Bank Zambia |
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Zambia’s largest bank by assets, revenues and profits had another strong year. Zambia National Commercial Bank (Zanaco) posted net profit of $101.7 million in the full year 2021, up 285% year on year, against operating income of $244 million. Both were record results. Total assets jumped 72% on an annualized basis to $1.58 billion, with customer deposits up 57% and loans up 66%. Zanaco’s capital adequacy ratio rose to 17.35% at the end of 2021, against 13.54% the previous year, as it continued to recover from the Covid crisis.
Led by CEO Mukwandi Chibesakunda, Zanaco continued its strong performance in the new year, posting net interest income of ZK702.6 million ($41.6 million) in the first quarter of 2022 and net income of ZK265 million.
Digital was a key area of focus. A promotional campaign called ‘Think outside the branch’, advocating for a greater nationwide take up of online banking, resulted in a 43% rise in the use of the bank’s digital financial services.
In 2021, as part of its pandemic relief facility, it disbursed more than $56 million to financial institutions for onward lending. The bank also unveiled Kweza, an initiative that helps business clients to improve their performance across a host of metrics, from risk planning and debt management to corporate governance and continuity planning.
During the awards period Zanaco also signed a €30 million food and farming related value chain facility with the European Investment Bank to support capital projects across land, equipment and infrastructure.
It signed a letter of intent with the World Wildlife Fund and Lusaka-based Kukula Capital to establish a green fund that disburses individual loans of up to $800,000 to green businesses.
Stanbic Bank Zambia’s corporate and investment bank generated headline earnings of ZK655 million ($38.4 million) in 2021, up 96% year on year, with revenues up 32% to ZK1.55 billion. It posted a return on equity of 56% in 2021, against 41% a year earlier.
The investment bank completed a host of notable transactions during the awards period. In May 2021 it helped Zambian Breweries complete a $12.5 million revolving credit facility to support future capital expenditure. A month later, it helped Barloworld raise around $12 million to refinance a shareholder loan and support its finances in the wake of the pandemic.
Some of the deals might look small, but they matter hugely to a market that boasts a number of strong corporates with their own specific capital needs. In August 2021 Stanbic Bank Zambia refinanced a $13.6 million term loan for property firm Graduare, which it then converted into kwacha.
In March 2021, it was lead arranger, lender of kwacha and provider of FX to TotalEnergies Zambia – a deal that helped the local unit of the French energy giant make a key dividend payment.
